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Former Springbok lock Kobus Wiese has opened op on an incident at the end of the 1995 Rugby World Cup final against the All Blacks.
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With time up on the clock and South Africa leading 15-12, New Zealand lock Ian Jones was spotted punching Wiese after a scrum moments before English referee Ed Morrison blew his final whistle.
In an interview with The Yellow Cap sports blog, Wiese opened up about what led to the incident.
“It’s part of the game… You remember the (former Bok prop) Johan le Roux incident in New Zealand with (All Blacks hooker) Sean Fitzpatrick (in 1994) when unfortunately they didn’t feed Johan well enough so he nibbled on Sean’s ear. People saw it differently unfortunately and ‘Joe’ was suspended for a couple of weeks,” Wiese said.
Le Roux, in reality, received a 19-month ban and only returned to the provincial rugby scene in 1996.
Wiese added: “Joe (Le Roux) was also playing [with me] for Transvaal – the Lions. He was one of the hard men of rugby, he could take it on the chin and also dish it out. He’s also a great guy and a really good person.
“I promised Joe that if there was ever a chance for payback, one of us – his team-mates – would oblige. And we’ll leave that there for technical and legal reasons!
“In that last scrum, we paid back the dues for Joe and clearly Jonesy (Ian Jones) was a bit frustrated as well because he knew it was all over and he started punching.
“But I didn’t mind, I took it on the chin, because we had paid back the favour and it was all in good spirit. We had a cold one – a lemonade – afterwards and we are friends to this day.”
The Yellow Cap is run by Jacques Henning and the incident was brought to attention by photographer Thys Lombard.
Did you ever notice what happened to @4KobusWiese at the end of the 1995 World Cup final? pic.twitter.com/EBHrt0ai6o
— RugbyRocks.com (@rugby_rocks) April 14, 2020
