Barbarians v New Zealand January 27th 1973, Cardiff Arms Park
Four minutes into the game on a wet and windy Cardiff afternoon, Welshman Phil Bennett began a movement from inside the Barbarians own quarter that was to change the way rugby was played. Bennett side-stepped his way past two New Zealand defenders then passed it on through John Pullin, John Dawes, Tom David, Derek Quinnell and eventually to Gareth Edwards who beat the cover defence and scored a magnificent try that set the tone of the match.
Further tries by Fergus Slattery and Bevan made it 17-0 at half-time, and although the All Blacks staged a memorable second-half fight-back with two tries, the Barbarians finished with a JPR Williams try to win 23-11.
France v Australia June 13th, 1987 Concord Oval, Sydney
France spoiled Australia's World Cup final plans when they staged an amazing comeback to beat the Wallabies 30-24 in the semi-finals.
The Wallabies were strong favourites to win the match after David Campese broke the try-scoring world record to open up a handy 9-0 lead. They led 24-19 in the dying stages before the French equalised, then stole victory with a fairytale try by Serge Blanco two minutes from the end.
The French launched a counter-attack from inside their own half with the ball going through 11 pairs of hands before finding its way to Blanco who scored in the left hand corner.
South Africa v New Zealand June 24th, 1995 Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Springbok flyhalf Joel Stransky kicked a drop goal in extra time to lift South Africa to a 15-12 victory over New Zealand in the third World Cup final.
With the sides level 9-9 at full time, the final went in to extra time for the first time and within two minutes of the restart All Black fly-half Andrew Mehrtens kicked a penalty from just inside the halfway line.
Stransky responded with another penalty for the Springboks to level the score at 12-12 midway through extra time and then seized the opportunity as South Africa pressed hard to loft the ball between the posts.
Although no tries were scored in the match, the game was full of tension with the lead changing several times.
France v New Zealand October 31st, 1999 Twickenham, London
France sprang the biggest shock in World Cup history by beating tournament favourites New Zealand 43-31 in the 1999 semi-finals at Twickenham.
Giant All Black winger Jonah Lomu barged through five or six defenders to help send the All Blacks to the break leading 17-10. Four minutes after the interval he repeated the feat for his second try to put New Zealand 24-10 ahead and looking confident of victory.
But France, and Christophe Lamaison in particular, had other ideas. The outhalf set up an amazing French recovery with two drop goals in rapid succession and then two penalties. France then exploited gaps in defence with three magnificent tries through Christope Dominici, Richard Dourthe and Phillipe Bernat-Salles.
