Rugby World Cup 1999

   The Wallabies 1999 vintage bounced back from a low ebb circa 1995 to claim the William Webb Ellis Cup [Bill]. The official version of events is that Webb Ellis at Rugby School in England picked up the ball and ran with it in a multi players per side game of football, thus creating the great running game Rugby Union!!
   The John Eales led Wallabies were a special team and gave many of us special pleasure at knowing the Wallabies had won TWO World Cups... I'll still say we were 4 or 5 degrees celsius and one turnover away from THREE but unlike the All Blacks we don't have to win ours 'at home'!!
   But seriously, it shows the + and - of a four year World Cup cycle that as teams have begun to plan their futures around it the All Blacks as undisputed best team in the world have let nerves and resolve get the better of them on a number of occasions!! First hand experience showed me the NZ home fans and crowd were anything but confident in 2011 at Eden Park where France did almost bring them unstuck... but to be honest I think home ground was the difference again!!
   This t-shirt was a piece of shameless cheap capitalising on the win BUT when I bought it I could actuallu wear it. These days it hangs on the wall amongst other memorabilia!!