It’s been twenty years since the Wallabies won a second Rugby World Cup in 1999, beating France at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
To commemorate the anniversary, RUGBY.com.au has produced an epic documentary podcast re-living the victorious campaign and the stars who achieved it.
“Keep ‘em Nude: The story of the 99ers” is a five-episode podcast that tells the story of the Wallabies’ win in 1999, from its origins two decades earlier through to the arrival of professionalism in rugby in the mid 1990s.
It can be listened to online, via the player below, or via iTunes and Spotify.
The behind-the-scenes doco tracks the rise of the famously business-minded supercoach Rod Macqueen, and how he took the Wallabies from the ashes of a disastrous 1997 to the top of the world two years later.
Inspired by the ESPN 30-for-30 style of story-telling, the ‘Keep ‘em Nude’ podcast features the memories - and lots of previously untold stories - from key characters in the 1999 World Cup win, including Macqueen, John Eales, Tim Horan, John O’Neill, Stephen Larkham, Rod Kafer, Phil Kearns, Stephen Larkham, Owen Finegan and Matt Burke.
"Keep 'em Nude" was written and narrated by RUGBY.com.au editor Iain Payten.
Many people know a little about the 1999 Rugby World Cup, but told here for the first time is the definitive story, told with great humour.
Did you know Macqueen threatened to quit the Wallabies within a few weeks of taking the job in 1997? Or that he wanted to punt John Eales as captain?
Find out who told Macqueen he didn’t want to debut for the Wallabies unless they changed their game plan, and which player effectively tipped beer all over the Prime Minister as he skolled beer from the Bledisloe Cup.
Hear how close Eales and Larkham came to missing the 1999 Rugby World Cup entirely, and how a famous Wallaby won a year’s worth of Guinness inside the first two minutes of the tournament.
Hear why Macqueen was happy with Toutai Kefu punching tripe out of an Irishman, how a former Parramatta Eel was arguably the most important figure in the ’99 Cup win, why players hid behind airport pot-plants in 1995 and how a seven-year-old English girl almost brought down the Wallabies’ World Cup.
And then there’s the shock of the real reason Stephen Larkham kicked that field goal against the Springboks, and the secret Wallabies plan to walk off the field in the World Cup final should France engage in eye-gouging on the field. Which they did.
Learn which Wallabies prop, with a history of break-and-enters, was tasked with guarding a huge pile of cash in the team hotel.
And keep who nude?
All those tales and much, much more. Take a listen to “Keep ‘em Nude: The Story of the 99ers”.
