Paul Morgan - Little Book of the Rugby World Cup

LITTLE BOOK OF THE

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

First published in the UK in 2007. Updated in 2015

G2 Rights Ltd 2015

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Publishers Edward Adams & Jules Gammond

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ISBN 978-1-782815-45-7
eISBN 978-1-782812-79-1

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I have covered all seven World Cups from the first in New Zealand and Australia in 1987 to the most recent in New Zealand in 2011.

They have grown in stature and global significance on every occasion and there is no doubt that the 2015 World Cup will be the biggest and best and attract the largest worldwide audience.

It is guaranteed to be a massive financial success but it is also going to be a tournament to savour from the opening match at Twickenham between England and Fiji to the Final six weeks later.

The Rugby World Cup is one of the biggest events in the sporting calendar alongside the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. Of the seven previous winners only one Northern hemisphere team has won - England in Sydney in 2003 when they beat Australia.

That day I came quite close to producing a half decent commentary when I described Jonny Wilkinsons drop goal to win the World Cup for England in the final minute of extra time.

Ian Robertson has seen it all in rugby and heads into his eighth World Cup

It was at the same time, potentially, a commentary fraught with a very different outcome. Jonny had kicked 21 drop goals for England but all with his left foot. This was with his right foot.

I was perched in an eyrie in the back of the main stand about 60 metres from the near touch line. The drop goal was struck a further 40 metres from that near touch line in mid-field. As he kicked the ball, I grabbed my binoculars for reassurance and it was with great relief that I saw it was indeed Jonny and not Mike Catt that had hit the goal. He was some 100 metres away - a small dot on the horizon!

The final whistle blew and I knew I had not covered the most iconic moment in Englands rugby history too badly when John Inverdale - a man not known for idle flattery - said, I can safely say that wasnt the worst commentary youve ever done

With only seconds left on the clock, deep into extra time, Jonny Wilkinson dispatched a perfect drop goal to seal a 17-20 victory over Australia in the 2003 World Cup final

Like the whole rugby world I am looking forward enormously to the 2015 World Cup. It promises to be a very special tournament.

ALTHOUGH THE FIRST RUGBY World Cup was held in 1987, ever since the first Test matches, in 1871, sides across the world have claimed the unofficial title of the best rugby team on the planet.

At the start only England and Scotland battled for the title but by the 1920s it was accepted that the epic series between New Zealand and South Africa was deciding who were the unofficial world champions.

An early match between England and Scotland in the Athletic Grounds at Richmond, 1891

Other sides most notably Wales in the early 1970s laid claim to their unofficial title but for the decades either side of the war it was either the Springboks or the All Blacks who were the team to beat.

The closest rugby got to anointing an official world champion before 1987 was at the Olympic Games, where rugby was included in four Games between 1900 and 1928.

France won the first gold medal and USA the last before the Olympic committee removed rugby from their list of sports.

With football starting its World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, it was inevitable that rugby would go the same way at some point. Perhaps the only mystery is why it took so long?

The length of the time could probably be attributed to rugbys roots as an amateur sport.

Some leading nations were fervent campaigners of the amateur traditions right up until the game turned professional, in 1995. Some, like England, even opposed the World Cup when it was first mooted in the late 1970s, for fear of it leading to a professional game.

It was not until late 1983 that the Australian Rugby Union and New Zealand Rugby Football Union submitted written proposals to the International Rugby Board (IRB) for a World Cup.

Neither was aware of the others proposal with Australia wanting to stage a tournament to coincide with their Bicentenary in 1988 and New Zealand proposing the previous year.

Both proposals were turned down but the two countries pooled their resources to conduct a feasibility study to be presented at the IRBs annual meeting in March 1985.

But it took the IRB until 1985 before they took their momentous decision, at their annual meeting in Paris, two years after the similar proposal was rejected.

New Zealand had been at the centre of the campaign for a World Cup since 1983, Australia joining the campaign a year later.

At the 1985 meeting - chaired by Australias Dr Roger Vanderfield - it certainly wasnt a unanimous decision with the British and Irish unions initially sceptical, although today the Rugby World Cup is one of the top three sporting events (behind the Olympics and the Football World Cup) in the world.

During the 1924 Olympics, rugby was played at the Colombes Stadium in Paris

Only a two-thirds majority was in fact required at the IRB Executive and it was resolved to stage a 16-team tournament.

France were in favour of the proposal on one condition: that the Tournament would not be restricted to the eight IRB members but would involve other countries to enable the game to reach a broader audience.

No one at that 1985 meeting could have considered how quickly the Rugby World Cup would grow, and the multimillion pound event staged by Australia in 2003 that captivated countries across the world was a stunning success.