1995 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP OVERVIEW
Host Nation – England and Wales
Number of Teams – 10
Highest Crowd – 66,540 London, England
Average Crowd – 17,706
Total Crowd – 265,592
1995 World Cup Snapshot – The 1995 World Cup celebrated 100 years of Rugby League. For the first time 10 teams took part in the tournament. In the opening game England caused an upset by beating Australia 20 -16 in front of 41,271 fans. That set the scene for the rest of the tournament with many classic games. The semi finals produced two great games. New Zealand pushed Australia and could have won the game with a try on full time. NZ missed the conversion locking the scores at 20 all. Australia ran away with the game in extra time booking a place in the final. In the other game England had to work hard to beat a determined Welsh side that gave their all. In front of 66,540 at Wembley, Australia defeated England 16 – 8 in the World Cup Final.
1995 Rugby League World Cup Group Format
The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was hosted by England and Wales and celebrated 100 years of Rugby League. Ten teams were split up into three groups. It was the first time Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa and South Africa took part in the World Cup.
Group One: Australia, England, Fiji, South Africa
Group Two: New Zealand, Tonga, Papua New Guinea
Group Three: Wales, Samoa, France
1995 Rugby League World Cup Finals Format
The teams that finish in the top 2 within Group One qualify for the semi finals.
The teams that finish 1st in both Group Two & Three also qualify for the semi final.
The winner of both semi-finals will play each other a week later in the World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
1995 Rugby League World Cup Group One Results
Game 1: Oct 7th England 20 – Australia 16, Location – Wembley, England, Crowd – 41,271
Game 2: Oct 8th Fiji 52 – South Africa 6, Location – Keighley, England, Crowd – 4,845
Game 3: Oct 10th Australia 86 – South Africa 6, Location – Gateshead, England, Crowd – 9,191
Game 4: Oct 11th England 46 – Fiji 0, Location – Wigan, England, Crowd – 26,263 (sellout)
Game 5: Oct 14th Australia 66 – Fiji 0, Location – Huddersfield, England, Crowd – 7,127
Game 6: Oct 14th England 46 – South Africa 0, Location – Leeds, England, Crowd – 14,014
The World Cup kicked of at Wembley Stadium with Australia playing England. England made a great start to the tournament by beating Australia 20-16. After the win England were rated a good chance of winning the World Cup for the first time since 1972. As history would show England stumbled at the final hurtle.
15 games were played throughout the tournament. Some games were played outside the traditional rugby league heartland in the North. London, Cardiff, Gateshead and Swansea all hosted Word Cup games bringing rugby league to a new audience.
Overall the tournament was hailed a great success with good crowds and competitive games. With two sellout games in Wales, rugby league showed that the game had grown outside of it’s Northern England heartland.
Group One Pool Table
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
|
England |
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
112
|
16
|
6
|
|
Australia
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
168
|
26
|
4
|
|
Fiji
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
52
|
118
|
2
|
|
South Africa
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
184
|
0
|
Group One Semi-Final Qualifiers: England & Australia
1995 Rugby League World Cup Group Two Results
Game 1: Oct 8th New Zealand 25 – Tonga 24, Location – Warrington, England, Crowd – 8,083-
Game 2: Oct 10th Papua New Guinea 28 – Tonga 28, Location – Hull, England, Crowd – 5,121
Game 3: Oct 13th New Zealand 22 – Papua New Guinea 6, Location – St Helens, England, Crowd – 8,679
The opening game between New Zealand and Tonga was a World Cup classic. New Zealand were clear favourites but someone forgot to tell the Tongan’s. Tonga raced away to a 24 to 12 lead over New Zealand with some enterprising play. New Zealand hit back late in the game to level the scores 24 all. In the dying minutes Matthew Ridge landed a field goal from right in front to seal the game for the Kiwis.
Game 2 was a tightly contested game. Tonga were in the lead for most of the game. Every time Tonga looked like running away with the game PNG would bounce back staying within striking distance. PNG scored the final try in injury time to level the scores at 28 all.
Group Two Pool Table
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
|
New Zealand |
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
47
|
30
|
4
|
|
Tonga
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
52
|
53
|
1
|
|
Papua New Guinea
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
34
|
50
|
1
|
Group Two Semi-Final Qualifier: New Zealand
1995 Rugby League World Cup Group Three Results
Game 1: Oct 9th Wales 28 – France 6, Location – Cardiff, Wales, Crowd – 10,250 (sellout)
Game 2: Oct 12th Western Samoa 56 – France 10, Location – Cardiff, Wales, Crowd – 2,173
Game 3: Oct 15th Wales 22 – Western Samoa 10, Location – Swansea, Wales, Crowd – 15,385 (sellout)
The opening game saw Wales race away with the game against France in front of a record rugby league crowd for Cardiff.
In the second game Western Samoa went on a try scoring spree leaving France to think about the next World Cup.
The final game saw the best two teams Wales and Western Samoa battle it out for a spot in the World Cup Semi Finals. On the back of Jonathan Davis, Wales proved to strong defeating Western Samoa 22 – 10
Group Three Pool Table
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
|
Wales |
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
50
|
16
|
4
|
|
Western Samoa
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
66
|
32
|
2
|
|
France
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
16
|
84
|
0
|
Group Three Semi-Final Qualifier: Wales
1995 Rugby League World Cup Semi-Finals
Semi-Final 1: Oct 21st England 25 – Wales 10 Location – Old Trafford, Manchester, England, Crowd – 30,042
Semi-Final 2: Oct 22nd Australia 30 – New Zealand 20 *, Location – McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England, Crowd – 16,608. Note: * 20 all at full time, Extra time result 30 – 20
World Cup Final Qualifiers: England & Australia
1995 Rugby League World Cup Final
Oct 28th Australia 16 – England 8, Location – Wembley Stadium, London, England, Crowd – 66,540
1995 Rugby League World Cup Champions: Australia