Suzie the waitress: Former All Black opens up on World Cup final controversy

Almost 30 years on from one of the most controversial weeks in Rugby World Cup history, former All Blacks playmaker Andrew Mehrtens has opened up on the infamous ‘Suzie the waitress’ incident.

To this day, New Zealand rugby fans swear by the allegations that a mysterious waitress played a part in the All Blacks’ defeat in the 1995 decider at Ellis Park.

Ed Griffiths, who was the CEO of South Africa Rugby during that tournament, has since told RugbyPass that it’s “certainly true” that up to six All Blacks had upset stomachs. But Griffiths, along with the Boks and their supporters, adamantly deny foul play.

It’s a mystery that may never be solved.

The Springboks went on to win the decider 15-12 in extra-time. Flyhalf Joel Stransky scored all of South Africa’s 15 points, including a decisive drop goal to secure World Cup glory.

Ahead of the 2023 final between New Zealand and South Africa, former All Black Andrew Mehrtens has shed light on what happened three decades ago in Johannesburg.

“It comes up and I’m careful to make two points,” Mehrtens told BBC’s Rugby Union Daily podcast.

“I’m not going to deny that something happened on the Thursday night. Within a short space of time, we have a lot of guys fall pretty violently ill overnight.

“I never really got tested. I was the first one to get a little bit sick so I got isolated. I didn’t realise it had ripped through a lot of the team.

“I got given a Petri dish and asked to give a sample but I couldn’t face the thought of doing that anything during the night.

“So the first thing I’ll say is something sort of happened but we don’t know what By the time we got to the game on the Saturday, we felt good – we were a really fit team.

“We were trying to just basically disregard it and concentrate on the job.

“And in the end, the determining factor for us in not winning that final was that South Africa tackled us where other teams hadn’t.

“I don’t want it to be in the context of this is why we lost at all.

“It’s certainly not and we had to take our hat off to the South Africans.”

The All Blacks and Springboks are on the cusp of rugby immortalisation. No team has ever won the sport’s ultimate prize four times, but that is certain to change on Saturday night at Stade de France.

New Zealand were written off by many coming into this World Cup, with the All Blacks recording a record 35-7 loss to South Africa just two weeks before the event

But two months is a long time in Test rugby, and so is 28 years. As the two great rivals prepare to meet in a World Cup decider for just the second time, All Blacks coach Ian Foster reflected on what’s motivating his team.

“Part of the challenge is to discover that yourself. We get it from the history and the legacy of the jersey, which is massive for us. The people who have walked the journey we have walked are pretty special,” Foster said.

"The All Blacks have always had a special place in New Zealanders' hearts. The amount of support we have got from our country has been quite overwhelming. We are generally a conservative bunch, we are generally cynical at times. We show our love and support while criticising yet that has swung around a little bit. Suddenly there is a lot of excitement from our country.

"We get it from the people we represent, our families and our past. Then when we shut the door and get in a circle it’s also that group of people who are massively motivated to meet the standards we have set ourselves.”