The schedule of Cup games includes 32 matches up to the finals, 16 at coast, 16 at altitude (see below). The latest version of the revised schedule follows.
Adrian Adams (ara@inmos.co.uk) has been kind enough to provide a postscript version of this complete with boxes for entering the scores.
The revised fixtures and venues for Rugby World Cup 1995. Note: South Africa is 2 hours ahead of Universal Time (i.e. GMT) Pool Games ========== Thursday May 25 14h30 Cape Town A Australia vs SA Friday May 26 16h00 Rustenburg D Scotland vs Ivory Coast 18h00 Pretoria D France vs Tonga 20h00 Port Elizabeth A Canada vs Romania Saturday May 27 13h00 East London B Western Samoa vs Italy 15h00 Bloemfontein C Wales vs Japan 17h00 Durban B England vs Argentina 20h00 Joburg C New Zealand vs Ireland Tuesday May 30 12h30 East London B Western Samoa vs Argentina 14h30 Cape Town A SA vs Romania 18h00 Rustenburg D France vs Ivory Coast 20h00 Pretoria D Scotland vs Tonga Wednesday May 31 13h00 Port Elizabeth A Australia vs Canada 15h00 Bloemfontein C Ireland vs Japan 17h00 Durban B England vs Italy 20h00 Joburg C New Zealand vs Wales Saturday June 3 13h00 Rustenburg D Tonga vs Ivory Coast 15h00 Stellenbosch A Australia vs Romania 17h00 Pretoria D Scotland vs France 20h00 Port Elizabeth A Canada vs SA Sunday June 4 13h00 East London B Argentina vs Italy 15h00 Bloemfontein C New Zealand vs Japan 17h00 Joburg C Ireland vs Wales 20h00 Durban B England vs Western Samoa Knockout Games ============== Saturday June 10 13h00 Durban E France vs Ireland [Winner (D) vs Runner up (C)] 15h30 Johannesburg F South Africa vs Western Samoa [Winner (A) vs Runner up (B)] Sunday June 11 13h00 Cape Town H England vs Australia [Winner (B) vs Runner up (A)] 15h30 Pretoria G New Zealand vs Scotland [Winner (C) vs Runner up (D)] Semi-finals =========== Saturday June 17 14h30 Durban Winner (E) vs Winner (F) Sunday June 18 14h30 Cape Town Winner (G) vs Winner (H) Thursday June 22 14h30 Pretoria Third place play off Saturday June 24 14h30 Joburg 1995 WORLD CUP FINALSome interesting facts on the geography of the sites:
Cape Town Coastal Port Elizabeth Coastal Durban Coastal East London Coastal Stellenbosch Coastal (or nearly... it's about 30km inland from Cape Town) Pretoria high ~ 1500m (about 40km north of Joburg) Rustenburg high ~ 1200m (about 100km west of Joburg/Pretoria) Bloemfontein high ~ 1500m (about 400km south of Joburg) Johannesburg high ~ 1600m Potchefstroom high ~ 1300m (about 100km or so south west of Joburg)Altitudes taken very roughly from contours in an atlas. Most places "inland" are at altitude over here - Grahamstown is about 40km inland but is at an altitude of 650m.
An interesting climatological fact is that the Western Cape (i.e. Stellenbosch and Cape Town) suffer from cold wet winters - very similar to New Zealand, I would imagine, while the rest of the country is dry and usually mild at that time of year. A complete contrast in conditions - from dust to mud, so it's not just altitude that they'll have to worry about.
Information provided by
ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod)For more details see the information on venues.
Here's some of the politics behind the changes noted above.
>From: cep@cs.nott.ac.uk (Charlie Pearce) Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby Subject: 1995 World Cup proposed changes Date: 13 Jan 94 12:40:58 GMT Article-I.D.: cs.1994Jan13.124058.29706I have heard a few proposals in the last month or so that haven't been repeated on this group (as far as I know), so I am going to describe them as best I can remember.
Firstly, at the end of December I read that the SARFU wanted to change things so that only the six Test grounds in the country (Ellis Park, King's Park, Newlands, Loftus Versveld, Boet Erasmus, Free State Stadium - I'm guessing here) and not the eight minor grounds that would have to be expensively upgraded for logistics and importantly security reasons. The article said that games would be played as "double-headers" - ie all 4 teams in one group would play in the same stadium in two consecutive games - and the 3rd/4th place play-off would be played before the final to make it seem much less mundane.
Secondly I recently heard on the BBC that somebody from the SARFU had been "summoned" (my word) to Paris to explain his proposals to RWC. Apparently RWC were anxious that he didn't "take over the running" of the competition.
The outcome seems to be that apart from the 6 Test grounds, a maximum of 3 minor grounds will be used in the competition.
>From: claassen@vax.oxford.ac.uk Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby Subject: Re: 1995 World Cup proposed changes Date: 15 Jan 94 17:40:57 GMT In article <1994Jan13.124058.29706@cs.nott.ac.uk>, cep@cs.nott.ac.uk (Charlie Pe arce) writes: > I have heard a few proposals in the last month or so that haven't been > repeated on this group (as far as I know), so I am going to describe them as > best I can remember. > > Firstly, at the end of December I read that the SARFU wanted to change things > so that only the six Test grounds in the country (Ellis Park, King's Park, > Newlands, Loftus Versveld, Boet Erasmus, Free State Stadium - I'm guessing > here) and not the eight minor grounds that would have to be expensively > upgraded for logistics and importantly security reasons. The article said that > games would be played as "double-headers" - ie all 4 teams in one group would > play in the same stadium in two consecutive games - and the 3rd/4th place > "summoned" (my word) to Paris to explain his proposals to RWC. Apparently RWC > were anxious that he didn't "take over the running" of the competition. >
That somebody is Louis Luyt, the megalomaniac president of the Transvaal RU (and the guy who ordered the singing of "Die Stem" before the '92 NZ-SA test), and also the chairman of Ellispark, who obviously wants more revenue for Ellispark. He also wants to move the opening ceremonies from Newlands to Ellispark for the same reason.
The RWC has been trying to reassert their control of the WC and has appointed Nic Labuschagne (Natal RU president) as the main guy in SA. He has appointed Craig Jamieson (ex Natal captain and now Natal general manager) as the general manager (or something) of the WC in SA. Jamieson is thus now the boss of Louis Luyt (heh, heh).
I think I've got the politics right. ANybody to correct me? (I think the SA posters are watching cricket at the moment.)
> The outcome seems to be that apart from the 6 Test grounds, a maximum of 3 > minor grounds will be used in the competition. >
I heard that too.
Daan Claassen
claassen@ox.ac.ukNewsgroups: rec.sport.rugby >From: ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod) Subject: Revised schedule and venues for WC '95 Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 15:53:55 GMTThe games that were scheduled to have been played in Brakpan, Germiston, Pietermaritzburg and Witbank have been reallocated to other venues. There are now 10 venues compared to the original 14, implying some sort of compromise by Louis Luyt, who wanted to have a maximum of 6 venues.
>From: ben.clegg@mrc-applied-psychology.cambridge.ac.uk (Benjamin Clegg) Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby Subject: World Cup Venues Date: 1 Feb 1994 14:20:19 -0600It has been announced that the 1995 World Cup in South Africa will now be held at 10 venues. The reasons cited for the changes are facilities and security. Facilities for both press and spectators would have needed upgrading at the 4 grounds dropped from the revised itinerary, while security was thought difficult to guarantee.
The grounds to be used are the 6 Test match stadiums, plus East London, Rustenburg, Potchefstroom, and Stellenbosch.