Rugby World Cup A-Z

THE Rugby World Cup is little more than three weeks away and, as Total Reading’s previews of the tournament get under way, we look at the ultimate A-Z of this autumn’s biggest sporting event...

A is for… AUSTRALIA

The Wallabies are one of three teams to have won the World Cup on two occasions, in 1991 and 1999, the other two being New Zealand and South Africa. But will the Aussies be Waltzing Matilda come the end of October or will they be helping her from the dancefloor after one shot too many?

B is for… BILL

The 20 nations competing in England and Wales this autumn are all aiming to lift The Webb Ellis Trophy on Hallowe’en. Affectionately known as ‘Bill’, the cup is named after the legendary founding father or the sport, a public school pupil who decided football wasn’t for him.

C is for… CHUMP CHANGE

We’re playing opposites here. Prices for the World Cup final at Twickenham this year will have set punters back as much as a whopping £715. That’s more than a month’s rent (for me, anyway). Or 265 Big Macs and a gherkin slice. Or an all-inclusive week-long stay on the Turkish coast for a family of four. We’d rather be at the game.

D is for… DE BEER

Jannie De Beer is not-so-fondly remembered by England fans as the man whose case of dropsy ended their country’s involvement in the 1999 tournament. The South African collected a world record five drop goals in a single match, as the Springboks won 44-21 in Paris. At least he got a kick out of it. Wahey.

E is for… EDEN PARK

The Auckland venue is the only stadium in the world to have hosted two Rugby World Cup finals – in 1987 and 2011. Twickenham will join that very exclusive list when this year’s grand finale takes place on October 31.

F is for… FREE LABOUR

It’s not quite as bad as it sounds. Around 6,000 volunteers, known as ‘The Pack’ will help make sure the tournament runs without as much as a niggle over its six-week duration. Will we see lifeguard-chairs and loudspeakers, a la the Gamesmakers of London 2012? Please let it happen.

G is for… GROUNDS

Thirteen stadia will host Rugby World Cup matches in 2015, with capacity ranging from 12,300 to a mammoth 81,000 at HQ. In fact, you could fit six-and-a-half Sandy Parks into Twickenham. And we’d love to see you try.

H is for… HAWK-EYE

New and extensive camera technology will be on hand during the tournament to aid with everything from tries being disallowed (Mark Cueto, cough, cough) to diagnosis of head injuries.

I is for… INSEPARABLE

There have been just three instances of drawn matches in the history of the World Cup, two of which have been contested by the same two teams. Canada and Japan were locked at 12-12 in 2007 and, four years later, they held each other’s hands all the way to a 23-23 stalemate.

J is for… JONAH

Perhaps the World Cup and indeed rugby in general’s most iconic player, All Black Jonah Lomu was a one-man battering ram during the halcyon days of his playing career. Capable of carrying four opponents on his back while darting at ridiculous speeds towards the tryline, Lomu holds the record for the most tries in World Cup matches with a ridiculous 15.

K is for… CAPTAIN KIRK

No, not Spock’s best mate. David Kirk was the first man to ever lift the World Cup with New Zealand way back in 1987. His team couldn’t Klingon to it for very long, however (see what we did there?!), as the Aussies beamed up the Webb Ellis Trophy four years later. (Enough now, Ed).

L is for… LEONARD

Jason Leonard, the wily old English prop, holds the record for the most individual appearances at a Rugby World Cup. Between 1991 and 2003, Leonard turned out 22 times for his country, with his tournament curtain call coming in that famous final victory in Sydney.

M is for… MANDELA

One of the most iconic images in World Cup history occurred back in 1995, when South African president Nelson Mandela presented Springboks captain Francois Pienaar with the Webb Ellis Trophy. It was a sporting reminder of the end of apartheid and spawned the movie Invictus.

N is for… NIL POINTS

With apologies for the use of Eurovision in an obviously much more intellectual forum, only eight sides have ever been shut-out and posted a 0 on the scoreboard in World Cup games. Poor old Namibia have failed to muster even a penalty on three occasions, while England were frozen out 36-0 by South Africa in 2007.

O is for… OAP

Okay, so it’s a bit harsh to call Diego Ormaechea a pensioner, but at the ripe old age of 40 years and 26 days the Uruguayan still holds the record for being the oldest player in a World Cup match when he featured for the South Americans against South Africa in 1999.

P is for… PECKISH

We all know that stadium concourse prices can be a little on the high side, but PWC reckon that won’t put World Cup fans off in 2015, with an astonishing £32million expected to be spent on burgers, beers, pies and pastries (and perhaps the odd Guinness) over the course of the tournament.

Q is for… QUICK

You get yourself psyched up, you belt out the national anthem, you line up for kick-off, you… wait a minute, you’re 5-0 down. That frustrating scenario happened to Romania in a 2003 World Cup clash with Australia in Brisbane, as Elton Flatley touched down with just 18 seconds on the clock. Gutting.

R is for… RUGBY

Well, it was never going to be polo, now, was it? Worldwide participation in the sport is now believed to be around 6.6million across 119 countries. That’s a lot of line-outs.

S is for… SPANKING

Look away if you’re Namibian. Back in 2003, Australia racked up the biggest winning margin in a World Cup game with their 142-0 thrashing of the African side. To be fair, given that Namibia’s fly-half, Rudie van Vuuren, also opened the bowling for his country in the cricket World Cup that year, you can sort of let them off. Sort of.

T is for… TV

The 2015 World Cup will be screened in 207 territories, giving more people than ever the chance to watch 30 men knock seven bells out of each other several times daily for more than a month. That makes the potential worldwide audience somewhere in the region of four billion. And they say it’s only for a select few.

U is for…UNDERDOG

Upsets are a rarity at Rugby World Cups, with perhaps the most surprising of all coming back in 1991 when Western Samoa beat Wales 16-13 at Cardiff Arms Park, cueing the famous quip “thank heavens Wales weren’t playing the whole of Samoa”.

V is for… VISITORS

The 2015 edition of the competition is expected to draw the most rugby tourists of any World Cup. Ever. An estimated 450,000 will travel to games, generating an estimated £464million for the British economy. How many nurses is that, then?

W is for… WILKINSON

It had to be. England’s pin-up number 10, idolised by beer-swilling 50-somethings and crooning teens alike, sent the nation crazy in 2003 when his extra-time drop goal won the World Cup against hosts Australia. Twelve years on and it seems Johnny hasn’t aged a day. Lucky bugger.

X is for… TEN

Yeah, artistic licence. The coveted 10 shirt (Roman numerals for those who haven’t got there yet) is key to any successful World Cup side. The most prolific 10 in the tournament’s history? Of course, it’s Johnny Wilkinson, with 277 points from 19 appearances.

Y is for… YOUTH

The youngest tryscorer in World Cup history is Welsh. Yep, really. George North plonked the ball down over the whitewash against Namibia (the poor fellas just keep on turning up on this list) in 2011 at the tender age of 19 years and 166 days, when most of his contemporaries were still dealing with fresher’s flu.

Z is for… Zzzzzzz

Fancy a mid-match snooze? Well, you’d have done well to attend a game at the 1991 tournament. With an average of 37.4 points per match, that event in England was the lowest-scoring of all time. Let’s hope this year’s edition discourages daydreams.