Rugby World Cup 1995 | On this day: Samoa shocked Italy, Wales overwhelmed Japan and the All Blacks suppressed Ireland

After the Springboks had opened the 1995 World Cup by defeating the Wallabies on Thursday May 25, the tournament took off on the Saturday when most of the favoured teams flexed their muscles, notably New Zealand and Wales.

The All Blacks were overwhelming favourites to reclaim the title they had won in 1987 — the inaugural World Cup — but lost to the Wallabies in England in 1991.

They played Ireland at Ellis Park and were made to work hard for their 43-19 win. In this era, Ireland were not respected and not feared, and the Kiwis sweated before Jonah Lomu put up an emphatic hand and scored two tries to quell the usual Irish fervour.

The Tongan-born Lomu had announced himself on the 1995 World Cup stage and he never left it. Tries were added by the wonderful All Blacks Frank Bunce (centre), flank Josh Kronfeld and fullback Glen Osbourne. Flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens did the rest of the damage with his boot.

For the gallant Irish, tries were scored by flank Dennis McBride and No 8 David Corkery, with flyhalf Eric Elwood adding two conversions and a penalty.

In Durban, fancied England were almost upset by Argentina, a country that has no love for the English. At that time, the Pumas were not a recognised as a world force but they almost won.

In fact, England could not score a try and all their points were scored by flyhalf Rob Andrews. He kicked an impeccable six penalties and two drop goals.

The South Americans had the satisfaction of scoring the game’s two tries — one by prop Patricio Noriega and the other by flyhalf Lisandro Arbizu.

The Free State Stadium hosted Wales versus Japan. This was time when Wales was a force and Japan were still making their way into the top tier of rugby. The Japanese naively tried to run everything against their bigger opponents and while they won the crowd’s support, they were always going to be found out.

Wales wing Gareth Thomas, on debut, scored three tries while the brilliant kicker Neil Jenkins filled his boots in the 57-10 romp.

In East London, Italy and West Samoa were expected to run each other close but in the battle of the teams wearing blue, it was the sky blue Azzurri who were punished by the darker blue of the pacific island team.

The Samoans had been the surprise package of the 1991 World Cup when they beat Wales, but Italy were on an upward trajectory mostly because of their brilliant flyhalf Diego Dominguez. However, Samoa bulled the Italians into submission, with their famous wing Brian Lima leading the charge.