Throwback Thursday: The Rugby World Cup Comes to Wales

Watching the reaction across the country last Saturday night, a casual observer would be forgiven for thinking that Wales' win over England had been in the final of the Rugby World Cup.

In reality, the celebrations simply confirmed that the Welsh love nothing more than beating England at rugby. Perhaps not every single Welsh man and woman feels it, but take a straw poll and it would surely come out on top. It is a mixture of good-natured neighbourly rivalry and a darker antipathy towards the English – particularly the upper class who the rugby team are seen to represent. In some ways it is fair and in others it feels out-dated and ludicrous; as a Welshman, I find it hard to make up my mind.

The fact that the victory came on English turf – and may well have spoiled their World Cup – was, for many, a further sweetener. If you absolutely must bump off your next-door neighbour, better to bury the body in his garden than your own, right?

16 years ago, however, it was Wales who were on home turf, preparing to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Admittedly, it might more accurately have been described as a Five Nations World Cup, with Wales sharing hosting duties with local rivals England, Scotland, Ireland and France.

But there was a distinctive Welsh flavour about the tournament, despite its nomadic nature. The Millennium Stadium – now an established piece of Britain's sporting furniture – was built for the '99 World Cup, casting a huge shadow over its predecessor, Cardiff Arms Park, on the bank of the River Taff. The new 74,000-seater venue hosted the opening match and the final, as well as pool stage games, one quarter-final and the third-place play-off.

Not everything was a success, of course. The mascot for the tournament was Dewi Dragon, an idea which must have required roughly seven seconds' thought to stumble upon, followed by several hours of celebratory pints at the nearest workingmen's club.

Aside from those played in the capital, precious few matches were staged in Wales – something that perhaps added to the sense that Cardiff gets first dibs on the good stuff while the rest of the nation must make do with the crumbs. The Racecourse Ground in Wrexham – more famous as home to the local football club – hosted a pool match, with Japan beating Samoa 43-9. As home to Llanelli RFC since 1879, Stradey Park represented a far more historic rugby ground. It too hosted a single pool encounter, with Argentina beating Samoa 32–16.

Perhaps today the situation would be different. A number of new stadia have been built since the '99 tournament that could host matches, including Swansea's Liberty Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, and Stradey Park's replacement in Llanelli, Parc y Scarlets.

Despite lacking a little in variety, the tournament was nevertheless significant, coming as it did at a time of increased national consciousness in Wales. The Welsh language was continuing the revival that had begun around the middle of the 20th centuiry, and in 1997 Welsh voters had narrowly supported the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, a devolved form of government that came into being just a few months before the World Cup.

The arrival of a major sporting event in the country added to the sense that Wales was a distinct place, as opposed to a glorified region of England. The Millennium Stadium was key to this: the stadium not only dwarfed every venue in Wales, but also put the giants of England to shame. This was a time before modern Premier League super-stadia, while the old Wembley looked out-dated in contrast. Wales was leading the way.

Unfortunately, the national rugby side – always the darlings of the Welsh nation – were not at their peak.

They opened the tournament with a 23-18 win over Argentina, a solid but unspectacular start (though as we were given the afternoon off school to watch the match, the result seemed somewhat irrelevant).

Wales then trounced Japan 64-15, but slipped up badly by losing 38-31 to Samoa in their final pool stage match. They still advanced as winners – albeit on points scored – and thus received an automatic passage to the quarter-finals.

But with the quality of opposition now increasing dramatically there was little hope that they would go any further, and on October 23rd they were beaten 24-9 by Australia at the Millennium Stadium. In fact, all home nation representation was wiped out in the quarter-finals, with South Africa comfortably dispatching England and Scotland falling to New Zealand. Nevertheless, Wales could take some comfort from the fact that they had exited to the eventual winners: Australia went on to beat France 35-12 in the final.

16 years on the Australians are again pivotal to Wales' World Cup hopes. The Wallabies play England tomorrow, where a defeat could effectively end the 2015 hosts' tournament. However, an English win would place huge pressure on Wales for their closing pool stage match against the Australians. The festivities last Saturday were certainly warranted, but they were by no means celebrating a certain spot in the quarter-finals.

@jimmy_weeks