By the Balls

When the All Blacks walked onto Eden Park for the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup final, the squad was far from united. The aftermath of the blighted Springbok Tour of 1981 had split New Zealand's top rugby players into two camps; those who supported continued sporting contact with South Africa, and those who didn't. Grant Fox and Wayne Shelford joined a 1986 rebel rugby tour of South Africa, but David Kirk and John Kirwan stayed home. In this excerpt from the award-winning documentary, Kirk talks about his anger on the verge of the historic World Cup final, while Kirwan battled intense feelings of pressure. 

I felt that if we went to Africa we could go with a multicultural team and show them how the world should be. So that was probably a naive look at it.

– Former All Black John Kirwan describes his mindset in the mid 1980s

Key Cast & Crew

Chris Dudman

Drama Director

Simon Coldrick

Co-Director, Editor

Charlotte Purdy

Executive Producer, Co-Director, Producer

Petelo Vaihū

Production Designer

David Paul

Cinematographer

Keith Quinn

Subject