Flashback: Josh Kronfeld revisits the 1995 Rugby World Cup
In the second instalment of our RugbyPass Legends series, Martin Devlin sits down with ex-All Black flanker Josh Kronfeld to discuss his stellar career.
The start of the international career of Josh Kronfeld was nothing short of an absolute whirlwind.
With just one match under his belt – an All Blacks debut against Canada – the then 23-year-old flanker was thrust into Rugby World Cup action and tasked with bringing the William Webb Ellis Cup back to New Zealand.
In an exclusive interview with RugbyPass, Kronfeld revisited the All Blacks’ intense semi-final against England and the thrilling final showdown against host nation South Africa.
“The semi-final, everybody loves to talk about that game,” Kronfeld said. “I think for me, it’s probably the nuttiest game I’ve ever been involved in, in my life.”
“I didn’t understand until maybe five and ten years later why it was so nutty. I never understood how much that ’93 loss to the English at Twickenham affected all of those guys.
“There was some hurt, there was some pride, you name it. It was all chucked into this ball, this inferno of a game.”
Kronfeld then recalled being kept in line by senior players leading up to the match.
“That week, leading up to that game, I must have been told my job and my requirements for that particular game maybe fifteen times, from the same sort of six or seven players in that team.
“They were just like ‘you’ve got to do this, just make sure you do that, do that.’ I was going ‘I’ve got it guys, yeah, I’ve got it Fitzy [Sean Fitzpatrick]. I’ve got it Robin [Brooke].
“They were so fanatical about getting this game right.”
The flanker revealed that all the intense build-up had in fact stirred the team a little too much.
“When the game got into the final parts of the build-up, before we ran out, did the haka, the national anthem, all that sort of stuff, the boys started giving it the roar and getting the pump on.
“There’s froth coming out of the mouth, it’s like half of them had rabies. I can’t even explain the intensity of it.
“I’ve played some amazing tests for intensity and build-up and everything like that, but nothing on this world compares with that one moment. It was next level.
“So when we went out, it was just like… bleurgh! For like 60 minutes of that game, was just the All Blacks unleashing all the pent-up, crazy energy.”
Kronfeld then revisited the 1995 final, where the All Blacks lost to South Africa 15-12 after extra time.
“I got told to f*ck up”, Kronfeld said. “That’s the words that were used when I tried to express that we needed to change things up.”
“We were going wide, wide and just getting shut down. But I was the new boy on the block.
“The only time where I felt like we cut them up and looked dangerous was when we were doing stuff short in around Walter [Little] and Frankie [Frank Bunce] and Mehrts [Andrew Mehrtens].
“I think in the modern game, probably we wouldn’t have come unstuck like that because there’s so many more opportunities for the message to come down from upstairs.”
Regardless, Kronfeld credits the South African defence.
“They [South Africa] designed a way of dealing with our attack, and out offense, which was pretty impressive.”
“I think that was probably, when I look at that moment in history and time, we weren’t a team that was only capable of playing one way.
“We were very capable of playing all sorts of styles, and it was just a matter of realising it in that moment and making the adjustments and changes at the correct time.”
After the heartbreak of the 1995 World Cup, Kronfeld would go on to play in the 1999 iteration and finish his All Black career with 54 appearances.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Bold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to comments