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The ten coolest day jobs held by players at the 1991 Rugby World Cup
By Calum Henderson
A lorry driver, a chef and a flight attendant walk into a bar. There is no punchline – it's 1991 and they're all taking part in the Rugby World Cup.
Thirty years ago this month, the All Blacks won the inaugural Rugby World Cup. Then, a couple of days later, they all went back to work. The same thing happened in 1991 and mostly in 1995 as well – it wasn't until the 1999 tournament that pretty much every player to take the field would have had the same job title: 'Rugby player.'
In 1991, to celebrate the All Blacks' first defence of the William Webb Ellis trophy, New Zealand confectionery company Regina started selling packets of officially lisenced Rugby World Cup trading cards. Players from all competing nations were included in the set of 176. One of the best things about this set was that, where possible, they listed the player's occupation on the back alongside his height, weight, and birthdate.
These invaluable bits of cardboard tell us there were a handful of teachers and policemen and a lot of businessmen with vague, boring-sounding job titles. But some of the players had cool jobs. The French tight five, for example, potentially included a chef, a detective and a folk singer. They are all included in this list of the ten coolest jobs players had to take time off from to play at the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
Gary Armstrong: Lorry Driver
Keneti Sio: Flight Attendant
Kevin Higgins: Barman
Rory Underwood: RAF Pilot
Brendan Nasser: Dentist
Gregoire Lascube: Detective
Neil Jenkins: Scrap Metal Dealer
Michel Tachdjian: Chef
Peter Fatialofa: Piano Mover
Pascal Ondarts: Folk Singer
For unknown reasons none of the All Blacks side had their occupations listed. Still, here's a bonus card featuring a player who never played a test and didn't actually end up getting selected in the 1991 Rugby World Cup squad...
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Well it's a bit disappointing injury hasn't been as much of a selector as I'd hoped for the AB's this weekend.
At least week got ALB in there and they made the call to let Ratima concentrate on building for another go next year already. Upgrades in both positions for me though I'd like it the otherway round, to not be.
Happy for Patrick to earn his start this week, along with EDG.
Mo'unga, please come back home ASAP, we need saving as I'm not sure Razor knows that his captain, Ardie, and Reiko have literally played every test this year, and we can all see he's given you the big desperate PLEASE with these selections.
Go to commentsWhat you say is true, but it's a new coach with a different structure and cohesiveness takes time. To be honest, despite the losses, the AB's looked more dangerous this year and more exciting.
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