When the last of the well-wishers had left the arrivals gate at Sydney Airport's international terminal on November 8, 1999, a large metal box sat unattended on the floor.
The trio, then-Australian Rugby Union chief John O'Neill, Wallabies team manager John McKay and corporate affairs head Strath Gordon, wondered what to do with it.The oversized trinket, 93 years old by this point and a veteran of four World Cups, should have been on its way back to the ARU offices in North Sydney for safekeeping ahead of the Wallabies' Town Hall tickertape parade six days later.
Made from melted down Indian rupees in 1878, it is now too fragile to be used. But it fared better than the Jules Rimet trophy, awarded since 1930 to the winner of the FIFA World Cup. "It wasn't something that came to light until a bit later," McKay said. "Luckily it wasn't too big a job getting it fixed."
Although there is no evidence the IRB, now known as World Rugby, knew about the mishap, from then on winning nations were only allowed to keep the original trophy for a short domestic tour. Wallabies supporters celebrate at Sydney's Town Hall during a tickertape parade for the world champion on November 17, 1999.As well as Little, Horan and Kearns, Eales captained the likes of Stephen Larkham, George Gregan, Matt Burke, Toutai Kefu, David Wilson, Owen Finegan, Joe Roff, Michael Foley and Andrew Blades.
It was precision rugby, played by a group of young men the likes of which the game hasn't seen again in Australia. Roff - one of McKay's 'Brumbies blokes' - denies he was nude but doesn't dispute any of the other facts. A 192cm, 100kg winger who'd been on the bench in the previous Test, he had a point to prove to the coach. McKay's diary notes reveal it was also Roff's 24th birthday.
"I brought him into the room and had a reasonably strong talk to him. I had never believed in curfews but I set one the next day."The Wallabies were unruffled by Ireland, Romania and the USA but their quarter-final clash with Wales was another matter. The group was on edge and, when they arrived at a stadium packed with 72,000 people, the majority of whom were Wales supporters, their anxiety peaked.
geerob what happens to the cup stays with the cup
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