WALES AT THE RUGBY
WORLD CUP2015
England 25-28 Wales
In a pool that also featured Australia, Wales came from behind
to beat England at Twickenham and leave the tournament
hosts facing an uphill battle to qualify from the pool stages - a
challenge which was ended by a 33-13 defeat to the Wallabies.
Gareth Davies’ late try was the catalyst for the Welsh win,
while Dan Biggar added 25 points from the tee.
Wales went on to finish second in Pool A, before their
run was ended in the quarter-finals by South Africa.
2011
Wales 8-9 France: A game that will be remembered
for Sam Warburton’s red card. The Wales captain sent
off for a dangerous tackle on Vincent Clerc with little
over quarter of the match played at Eden Park.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Wales still nearly won
it - a magnificent defensive effort kept them in the game, and Mike
Phillips scored the game’s only try with 23 minutes left. Stephen
Jones hit the post with the conversion, and Leigh Halfpenny
came up short with a long-range penalty at the death that would
have given Wales an historic victory, but it was not to be.
2007
Wales 34-38 Fiji: Another that makes the list for the
wrong reasons, Fiji stunned the rugby world by dumping
Wales out of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France thanks
to a wonderful free-flowing display in Nantes.
They scored three tries in nine first-half minutes to take command
of the game, and although the star-studded Welsh outfit - featuring
the majority of their Grand Slam winning side from 2005 - came
back into the match, a try from prop Graham Dewes sealed a
memorable day in Fijian rugby history, and a day to forget for Wales.
2003
England 28-17 Wales: Pool stages navigated with only
defeat to New Zealand, Wales took on favourites England in the
quarter-finals, and scored one of the tries of the tournament - a
move started by Shane Williams and finished by Stephen Jones.
But Sir Clive Woodward’s side had too much in the end, Will
Greenwood’s try changing the momentum of the match - the boot
of Jonny Wilkinson saw them home. The rest is, of course, history...
1999
Wales 23-18 Argentina: The Rugby World Cup was hosted in
Wales and heralded the opening of the now-Principality
Stadium. As hosts, Wales played in the first game, and
beat Argentina thanks to tries from Colin Charvis and
Mark Taylor, plus 13 points from kicking king Neil Jenkins.
The hosts were, in the end, knocked out at the
quarter-final stage by eventual winners Australia.
1995
Japan 10-57 Wales: A campaign that ended in an early trip home,
with defeat to Ireland meaning Wales missed out on a place in the
last eight. Their only win of the tournament came against Japan,
where Gareth Thomas helped himself to a hat-trick and Ieuan Evans
scored a brace as the Welsh overpowered the then-minnows.1991
Wales 13-16 Western Samoa
At the time, this was the darkest day in Welsh rugby
history as one of the proudest rugby nations came
unstuck at home to an unfancied Western Samoa.
Having finished third in the inaugural Rugby World Cup four
years earlier, Wales were much-fancied, but defeat to Western
Samoa - whose side included Frank Bunce, Brian Lima and Pat
Lam - meant they failed to make it out of the group stages.1987
New Zealand 49-6 Wales:
One game away from
the inaugural Rugby
World Cup final. All
you have to do is
beat the All Blacks- how hard can it be?
Wales discovered the
hard way at Ballymore,
Brisbane, as New
Zealand ran in
eight tries -
with Buck
Shelford and
John Kirwan
helping themselves to
a pair each - en route to
the final, and their first title.
MEMORABLE RUGBY WORLD CUP MOMENTS
Matches played: 37
Wins: 21 Losses: 16
Win percentage: 57%
Total points scored: 1056
Tries: 312 Penalties: 76
Conversions: 94
Drop-goals: 7
World ranking: 1WALES AT THE
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