Durban - The controversy about the All Blacks being poisoned on the eve of their historic 1995 World Cup final defeat to the Springboks has resurfaced.
Rory Steyn, chief bodyguard to then-president Nelson Mandela, said he believed betting syndicates had been behind the poisoning. The All Blacks lost the Johannesburg final 15-12.
Many of the New Zealand players had been suffering from food poisoning 48 hours before the game, which may have affected their performance in the final.
Speaking in New Zealand this week, Steyn said there had been considerable paranoia within the All Blacks camp during the tournament, which escalated after the semi-final win over England in Cape Town.
Returning to Johannesburg, All Blacks management decided they would eat separately from the rest of the hotel’s guests in the week leading up to the final.
“I said that makes it easier to target them, I didn’t think it was a good idea,” said Steyn in a report in the New Zealand Herald on Wednesday.
“On the Thursday (June 22) before the final, which was on Saturday, they were poisoned. About two-thirds of the squad got very sick,” he said. “I believe it was the water that was got at, because the food that was served at lunch time… was chicken burgers and hamburgers.”
He said some who ate chicken were sick and some who ate beef were sick. “I don’t think it was the food, I think it was the coffee and the tea and possibly even the drinking water.”
He said an investigation by a private detective hired by the All Blacks coach at the time, Laurie Mains, turned up very little.
“But I know what I saw… A team of guys lying on the floor, very, very ill.”
The former presidential bodyguard has made the claim before – in his March 2000 book, One Step Behind Mandela, the Story of Rory Steyn– but the controversy continues to fascinate rugby fans in general and All Blacks supporters in particular.