Philippe Saint-Andre doubts about the final between the Springboks and All Blacks in 1995

Quarter-final match poster Rugby World Cup Discount 15th from France to South Africa, this Sunday at the Stade de France, awakens the memory of the shock: that match that has become legendary between the Blues and the Bucs, in 1995. Twenty-eight years later, the Blues captain of the time Philippe Saint-Andre spoke with emotion on Les Grandes Gueules du Sport on RMC. But he also revealed other things about the competition.

If South Africa's coronation (their first) on home soil made history, especially with these images of President Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy in a country still reeling from the trauma of apartheid, things behind the scenes are not all glorious. Including in the build-up to the final against New Zealand, which the Springboks won 15-12 after extra time.

“80% of their men are sick.”

“The day before the final (which the Boks won), New Zealanders were poisoned,” says the PSA on RMC. “80% of their men fell ill. At the reception, the president of the South African Football Association presented a special award to the referee, a watch worth the equivalent of 30,000 euros. Given this fact, All blacks Leave the competition receiving end. At that time, rugby was not as popular as it is now. When you see everything that happened, you can still ask yourself questions.

In 2016, in interview On a South African channel, Rory Steyn, Nelson Mandela's bodyguard at the time, spoke of these doubts: “Two days before the final, the New Zealanders were suffering from a terrible illness. It was about two-thirds of the team and not Jonah Lomu. Even some of the players were South Africans.” “The New Zealand delegation was vomiting out of car windows, there were men lying on the ground in front of the doctor's office and in the corridor and both the doctor and the physiotherapist had to administer electrolytes and injections.”

The original article was published on the RMC Sport website