Steyn: All Blacks were poisoned in '95!

Rory Steyn, the former policeman who formed part of Madiba's personal security detail, also looked after the All Blacks during the 1995 Rugby World Cup - and saw evidence first hand of the team being poisoned during the week of the final.

[aleccastro]

This is pretty tough to front up to, as a proud South African. One of the best/ earliest childhood memories was watching this game. It's fucked up, to think how corrupt everything was in SA, behind the scenes. Thanks, and apologies, to NZ rugby. Brilliant memories over the years playing against you guys! No other rivalry gets me more amped !

[iteetee]

The Greatest part of this TRUE story is that the players never wanted to blame the loss on this incident PUBLICLY... I’m sure within the camp they weren’t happy about it.. And it takes weeks to get back to performance peak after being that sick from food poisoning..

[thecat]

And the Kiwis should never let it go. It was sabotage and it was cruel. What makes it worse is that South Africans mock the Kiwis for this incident and say it was a conspiracy theory. It happened. The All Blacks were sick and were not able to play but they decided to not make it into an excuse. Who can forget the images of our fast winger vomiting on the sidelines in the final. The team looked weaker and not at full strength in that game and I cannot see how South Africans can be proud of that.
Corrupt country and since then, it has got worse and worse.

[piripihiku]

"the kiwis will not let this go" but SA keep bringing the story out...duh!

[fidget]

I was at Ellis Park that day, after following the ABs all over the Republic, from JoBurg, and Pretoria to the Cape and back. My mate and I had a fantastic time and the locals could not have been more generous and friendly hosts. We were in country about 45 days and only spent one night in a hotel, just great hospitality. The Final itself was a magical day, not just for SA but really for all involved, including the Kiwis. After the match the locals saw our supporters gear that we were wearing and no one, no one gave us any shit, if anything they were almost apologetic, inviting us to join them for a few beers. As my traveling mate was a full-on Zinny supporter, I had to blame Zinny for our loss as it was he who knocked on, giving the Yarppies the scrum that allowed Stransky to strike the drop goal. We came up short in the day, and we may have below our best due the food poisoning, but 15-12 is hardly a disgraceful scoreline. James Small contained Lomu, who we saw thrash the poms the week before at Newlands, so the Boks did play well. At the moment the Boks are struggling a bit but they will improve by next September and Ho pefully they will be competitive as the ABs certainly will be. NZ Vs SA has so much tradition and rivalry, perhaps unmatched by other fixtures, so forgive the past and Bring it on!

[nzsoulman]

I was gutted about this. Mainly for Laurie and his boys. But it's history now. It happened, acknowledge it so it doesn't happen again and move one.
They were two great rugby sides, du Rant, Wiese, Joost RiP, Small RiP, Stransky, Moulder, Joubert, Kruger, Pienaar, Fitzpatrick, Brown, Brooke, Kronfeld, Mehrtens, Bunce, Wilson and Jonah RiP all legends.
At the time I didn't appreciate how many all time Greats played that day.
none of this one sided rubbish. 15-12 A great game of rugby.

[glenn]

If Rory Steyn who was there says it is so, that's good enough for me . As a New Zealander I'm extremely proud of the All Blacks of 95 . We bagged them at the time but that was a gutsy effort . Literally gutsy lol . Perhaps that's where the motivation came from to win in 96 and the following years .

[ItzCoopzFtw]

Basically, the thing to focus on now is to ensure something like that never happens again. My first Rugby memory is hearing the commentator shouting Lomu's name as he ran over the English fullback.

[sherman]

Total fix. Nz would have definitely won that World Cup. South Africa needed that win so at any cost they did this.

[geoffbeyer]

I have had food poisoning twice in my life, once when I was extremely fit. The first 36 hrs were hell and it took me another couple of days to start training again and even then I had to cut my workouts down a bit as I re built over the following days. It would've been a hard task to go out and play world class rugby a couple of days after having food poisoning. Bloody sneaky saffa's but I put my money on Mandela's camp having a hand in it.

[mickser]

98% fit for the final after a poisoning? I DON'T THINK SO. They played the final less than 48 hours after the incident and there is no way in hell a player could be that fit for a game like that. I would say 20% fit if that. I also think that the ref (Morrison) was going to make sure Allblacks would not win that day

[m-m-p]

This man is a very respectful man and he is a true representative of what rugby is.

[coolcoyote]

Laurie mains knew they were sick, but colin meads was in charge and said they have to play, they could have delayed the game by a day

[pangojack]

All Blacks were the better the team in the tournament but not the better team on the day. And that is that! Yeah there was some foul play but it was just South Africa day. Nelson Mandela was the man they played for and it made their country stronger. I'm a kiwi but I'm happy they one that one.

[himirei]

Stink for NZ. But good for helping unite South Africans. Of course us Kiwi's hate losing the world cup, but the good that came to South Africa was a far greater outcome. #chiefsmana #allblackeverything

[wobblertv]

The all blacks were the best team in 95 by a mile .

[MBCGRS]

Fun fact. 1996, the first series win in SA by All Blacks was also first time we had neutral referees. Tells you all you need to know....

[jantaljaard]

New Zealand we apologise, You should also have won the 1999 and 2007 world cups.

[road]

This man and the South African people are so honest. At least they are saying, yes it happened. Most other countries would deny saying it ever happened and we won fair and square.

[maireglover]

If the wheels turned and it happened to South Africa instead, would your country let it go? Anyway.., good old Kiwis MANA had their way. Witness South Africa’s World Cup opener with Japan, with Kiwi injections in the team. The Japanese and Kiwis predicted a win, and history was made. 🙏