Scotland were against it. So were Ireland. However, after a period of intense negotiation the International Rugby Board both voted on March 20, 1985, in favour of establishing of a Rugby World Cup.
The final push came amid the usual polite diplomacy, with IRB members holding the vote in Paris after a trip to Lyon for some fine dining. Even that was not sufficient to break down the resistance of the Scottish delegation who were determined to vote against.
The delegation, led by Dod Burrell, set a precedent of blind defiance which was to have the then Scottish Rugby Union secretary declare confidently that the sport would never go open two months before it did in 1995. The similarly avowed amateur Irish were also fearful of the consequences of the sport going open.
A year of pressure, applied steadily by the Australian and New Zealand Rugby Unions, won the day, the threat posed by Australian entrepreneur David Lord’s professional rugby circus being skilfully deployed. Looking to emulate what Kerry Packer had done in cricket around a decade earlier, Lord believed he was on the point of taking power away from the unions after only five of the players he had approached turned him down when had looked to recruit some 208.
Demonstrating the perverse double standards of the time, South Africa remained IRB members so had a potentially vital say, yet were quite correctly unable to take part in the first two tournaments because of sporting sanctions in the apartheid era. With the French already supporting the bid, the threat of Lord’s circus proved sufficiently real to win the votes of England and Wales, making the decision clear cut.
That first tournament was by invitation only. Zimbabwe took South Africa’s place in the draw with Argentina, Canada, Fiji, Italy, Japan, Romania and Tonga also readily accepting invitations, the USSR turning theirs down and so being replaced by the United States.
Seeking to avoid clashes with rival quadrennial tournaments such as the football World Cup, the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, 1987 was identified as the most suitable year. That was a tight commercial deadline even in the relatively heady 80s, perhaps exemplified by the fact the opening ceremony put together at just three weeks notice.
Ticket prices ranged from $1 to $44 and some 600,000 spectators duly attended with 300m television viewers watching across 17 countries. That all brought the IRB a $3m profit. To place that in perspective 2,263,223 spectators attended matches at the 2007 tournament, while 4.2 billion television viewers watched the 48 matches worldwide, with total commercial profits exceeding £122m.
The Home Unions’ preparations were perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that those representing the three Celtic countries travelled to New Zealand on the same plane, with England only travelling separately because they were playing their pool matches in Australia.
It is fair to say that conditioning work was not uppermost in the minds of any of those players as they savoured the in-flight hospitality. Fiji, meanwhile, turned up just days after a military coup in the country. All in all it was a rather rough-and-ready affair.
Perhaps most interesting of all, however, is that in spite of their status as lead co-host nation, which meant the final was to be played in New Zealand, there were some doubts about the All Blacks’ capacity to confirm their status as the world’s leading rugby nation.
In light of what has happened since that could hardly be more ironic, but serious divisions had been caused domestically by their rebel Cavaliers tour of South Africa.
The prospect of being given bans for any length of time were unthinkable when, in a further uncomfortable reminder of the double standards of the time, it is considered that the Cavaliers were: Alan Whetton, Gary Whetton, Andy Dalton, Hika Reid, Andy Haden, Jock Hobbs, Murray Mexted, Grant Fox, Wayne Shelford, Steve Mcdowell, Mark Shaw, Bill Osborne, Bernie Fraser, Wayne Smith, Robbie Deans, Dave Loveridge, Steve Pokere, Kieran Crowley, Victor Simpson, Michael Clamp, Gary Knight, Warwick Taylor, Craig Green, John Ashworth, Andrew Donald, John Mills, Bryce Robins and Frank Shelford.
Even after those players had completed a token two-match suspension the All Blacks were subsequently well beaten 16-3 by France in Nantes late in 1986, their last match before the tournament.
Of course, by the time it all got under way on May 22, 1987 it was a different matter and, again rather ironically in light of how the home nations pitched up, the role of Scot Jim Blair was crucial as the fitness guru drilled the All Blacks into shape.
Brian Lochore’s New Zealand side went on to dominate the tournament, registering 190 points in their three pool matches ahead of a 30-0 defeat of Scotland in the quarter-finals, the 49-6 destruction of Wales in the semi-finals and a 29-9 defeat of France in the final.
Such was the scale of the All Black domination that the most memorable match of the tournament did not involve them, but rather the two teams regarded as their biggest threats. The first truly epic World Cup match came when Australia met France in their semi-final.
The names of the scorers run off the tongue. David Campese, Patrice Lagisquet and Philippe Sella all scored tries, while Didier Camberobero and Michael Lynagh knocked over a string of kicks to leave the teams tied at 24-24.
Extra time was looking inevitable as France launched one final, magnificent counter-attack. The ball went through 11 pairs of hands before, almost inevitably, landing in those of another all-time great Serge Blanco, who charged through the tackle of the bear-like Tom Lawton to score the winning try.
That the World Cup was the vehicle for taking the sport to new heights was truly established that day at Sydney’s Concord Oval. It may have taken another eight years to formalise but rugby’s professional era was under way.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
1991
The first World Cup in the Northern Hemisphere was an unsatisfactory, widespread, co-hosted affair with the Home Unions and France all staging pool matches.
Scotland’s finest tournament saw them play all their matches at Murrayfield until a dramatic semi-final exit to England when Gavin Hastings missed a penalty and Rob Andrew did not miss with his match-winning drop goal. The Scots then lost the third place play-off to New Zealand in Cardiff.
It was a similar outcome in the other semi-final where Australia defeated the All Blacks, going on to beat England at Twickenham in the final, scoring the only try through prop Euan McKenzie.
1995
South Africa hosted the tournament and history was made in many more ways than one as Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienaar mixed sport and politics, using their World Cup success to promote the healing process in post-apartheid South Africa.
Fate appeared to be on the host’s side. Abdel Benazzi, the France captain, was denied what looked a winning try against them in the semi-final.
New Zealand also suffered from food poisoning on the day of the final, and their supporters feel that had more to do with the outcome than the South African side, whose entire points tally in an extra-time win came through Joel Stransky.
1999
With Wales taking the lead this time, another co-hosted affair brought meagre attendances at Murrayfield expose Scotland’s domestic problems in dealing with professionalism in the game were exposed.
The tournament will always be remembered for France’s Christophe Dominici-inspired second-half fightback in their semi-final win over the All Blacks. Australia saw off defending champions South Africa in the other semi-final thanks to Stephen Larkham’s drop-goal.
The Wallabies went on to become the first team to win a second title, overwhelming the French. That success sparked a stunning run of results under Rod Macqueen in which they won back-to-back Tri-Nations titles in 2000 and 2001, the only time they had achieved such a feat prior to the season just ended.
2003
Due initially to be another shared Antipodean tournament, a breakdown in relations left Australia to take over full responsibility and the event was hosted in a single country for only the second time.
Five-team pools were introduced for the first time with the hosts, England, France and New Zealand all winning theirs to meet in the quarter-finals.
Despite Australia having home advantage it was England who went into the final as favourites and while Elton Flatley gamely matched Jonny Wilkinson penalty for penalty, it was the England stand-off who struck the decisive blow.
2007
Nothing could have better highlighted why co-hosting agreements should be scrapped than the prospect of France being knocked out of their own tournament in a match played in Wales.However, their quarter-final win in Cardiff over the All Blacks, who yet again failed to live up to their billing as pre-tournament favourites, was a classic match.
That came about because of the efforts of the team of the tournament Argentina, who had beaten the principal hosts in the opening match to win their pool and the Argentines would go on to beat Scotland in a hard-fought quarter-final.
They did not quite believe in themselves sufficiently to overcome South Africa in the semi-final, going on to take third place with a second win over France. The Springboks proved too strong for the defending champions England as they emerged victorious in the final.
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