{"id":12086,"date":"2023-07-30T16:46:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-30T16:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/world-cup-rewind-1999-when-cool-cymru-hosted-world-rugby\/"},"modified":"2023-07-30T16:46:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-30T16:46:19","slug":"world-cup-rewind-1999-when-cool-cymru-hosted-world-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/world-cup-rewind-1999-when-cool-cymru-hosted-world-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Rewind: 1999 – When Cool Cymru hosted world rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/span><\/span>
Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup though it was still played over five countries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the end of the millennium ticked closer, the 1999 World Cup would symbolise a new beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

In the first World Cup of the professional era, the expanded tournament would demonstrate the full commercial potential of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Millennium Stadium was built to host the event and would symbolise a revival in Welsh national confidence. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the latest in a series reflecting on past World Cups, BBC Wales Sport looks back at 1999 with Scott Quinnell.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a time of renewed confidence in Wales and being Welsh… this was Cool Cymru.<\/span><\/p>\n

Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals and Catatonia were topping the charts and Stereophonics played before 50,000 fans in Swansea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Jones was making a successful comeback and Rhys Ifans took Hollywood by storm – in his pants – in the hit film Notting Hill.<\/span><\/p>\n

The face of the Welsh capital was also changing. The National Assembly was established to house the country’s first parliament in 600 years, just across the new-look Cardiff Bay from the nation’s first five-star hotel, while in the city centre, a shrine to the national sport was under construction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite very real concerns, the \u00a3121m Millennium Stadium, now called the Principality Stadium, was fully operational just in time – just – to stage an <\/span>opening ceremony unprecedented in scale and ambition<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/a> for a Rugby World Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Everyone asks what I made of the opening ceremony, but we didn’t see a thing. Steve Black [Wales fitness coach] had us warming up in the bowels of the stadium,” recalled the former number eight.<\/span><\/p>\n

“But walking out for the anthems and thinking the world was watching was an incredible feeling. There was a fantastic atmosphere which was just magnified under the roof.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The squad always had belief they would get the stadium finished. It was too big an event not to be ready for.<\/span><\/p>\n

“But that first warm-up match against South Africa [in front of 27,500 fans in a half-built stadium in the World Cup build-up] did feel like playing on a building site with blokes in high-viz jackets holding socket wrenches watching us.”<\/span><\/p>\n

That national excitement was shared on the pitch, embodied by Quinnell’s bleached blond haircut, and for the first time, Wales headed into a World Cup full of optimism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Glanmor<\/span><\/span>
WRU chairman Glanmor Griffiths said he “silenced the critics” when the stadium was completed on time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Graham Henry’s side were riding the crest of a wave after eight wins in a row, including victories in Paris, at Wembley over England, twice in Argentina and first win over the Springboks.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Graham came in and changed everything,” said Quinnell.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He was a workaholic and the attention to detail was unlike anything I’d seen. He’d have notes put under your hotel room door at 7am outlining the day ahead. <\/span><\/p>\n

“He also brought new ideas like a senior player group to use as a sounding board which I’d never seen before.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There was just a great feeling about the place at the time. We’d had a great year and ahead of the World Cup, we did training sessions and visits all over the country, and got an amazing reception wherever we went.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The WRU had struck a deal with the rest of the Five Nations Championship and England, Ireland, Scotland and France all hosted pool games.<\/span><\/p>\n

However there was only one result of any note in the pool stage and that – once again – involved Wales and Samoa in Cardiff. Lightning, Wales discovered to their pain, could strike twice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having ground out a bad-tempered win in the tournament opener over Argentina and brushed past Japan, Wales lost to Samoa in a result that utterly overshadowed Neil Jenkins <\/span>breaking the world record<\/span><\/a> for Test points.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Unfortunately Wales against Samoa in World Cups in Cardiff doesn’t seem to go very well,” winced Quinnell.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They were the most physical side you could ever play. When a Samoan hits you, you stay hit and after the game, I’d never felt so beaten up.<\/span><\/p>\n

“One of their centres put my teeth through my lip and I got hit so hard by someone else that I popped the ball up for Stephen Bachop to score a try. I think that might count as an assist.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gareth<\/span><\/span>
Gareth Thomas led protests over Colin Charvis’ two-week ban for punching Argentina’s Roberto Grau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wales squeezed into the quarter-finals, from a three-way tie in the pool, to set up a showdown with Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Henry controversially opted to leave the roof open in a bid to slow the Wallabies and in a rain-sodden match in front of a raucous home crowd, the result hung on a knife-edge at 10-9 well into the second half.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wallaby wing Ben Tune slid onto Stephen Larkham’s kick faster than Shane Howarth for a crucial score before George Gregan touched down late on from Tim Horan’s pass, that many Welsh fans thought was forward. <\/span><\/p>\n

“It was the hardest feeling after a match and still rankles now. That’s why I’ve never watched it back… even after 24 years,” said Quinnell.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I remember the game turning on a moment. I asked the referee to look for a possible forward pass, but all he said was ‘go away’. <\/span><\/p>\n

“There were no TMOs then so we just had to take it, but I knew that was the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It was so disappointing. It was a massive opportunity, at home in a World Cup quarter-final and I still don’t think Australia were that much better than us. I’ll always think that was the one got away.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia would go on to become the first team to win the World Cup twice, beating South Africa in extra-time and then France, who had knocked out Jonah Lomu’s New Zealand at Twickenham in one of the great World Cup encounters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Queen<\/span><\/span>
Queen Elizabeth presented Australia captain John Eales with the World Cup after beating France 35-12 in Cardiff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the hosts’ early exit and the Webb Ellis trophy returning to Australia <\/span>damaged in the celebrations,<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/a> the tournament would be hailed as a major success for rugby and Wales.<\/span><\/p>\n

The competition had been expanded to 20 teams, record attendances reached more than 1.5m people – an average of almost 40,000 per match – and Wales was left with a world-renowned stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

A new stadium with a roof for \u00a3121m appears a snip at today’s prices. However the debt taken on by the WRU to bankroll the huge undertaking would take a toll on Welsh rugby in later years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott Quinnell’s predictions for 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where will Wales finish?<\/strong> Semi-finals<\/span><\/p>\n

Winners?<\/strong> I thought Ireland, then South Africa… now France.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup though it was still played over five countries As the end of the millennium ticked closer, the 1999 World Cup would symbolise a new beginning. In the first World Cup of the professional era, the expanded tournament would demonstrate the full commercial potential of the game. The Millennium Stadium […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12088,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086\/revisions\/12088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}