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Wales at the Rugby World Cup 2003-2015

Carolyn Hitt presents a lively, anecodotal history of Wales in the Rugby World Cup, featuring archive and player interviews from more than 30 years of rugby’s global showpiece.

Carolyn Hitt presents a lively, anecodotal history of Wales in the Rugby World Cup. Featuring archive and interviews from more than 30 years of rugby's global showpiece, World Cup Dragons traces the Welsh experience in the tournament. Carolyn, who has covered five Rugby World Cups, reflects on the surprise wins, the shock defeats and collects colourful memories from players, pundits and fans alike.

Part two covers Wales' journey through the last four tournaments - 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015. In Australia 2003 Shane Williams was taken as the third-choice scrum-half but lit up the tournament. We hear how Wales surprised everybody - did they rip up the Hansen rule-book to give New Zealand and England such a scintillating scare or was it part of the Kiwi’s masterplan all along. Max Boyce reveals what the fans got up to – including his own adventures selling out the Sydney Opera House.

Wales’s 2007 World Cup campaign was a rollercoaster from start to finish - from the troubled build up to the shock exit which saw coach Gareth Jenkins sacked in the car-park. But it wasn’t all doom and drama – we discover why Mark Jones carried a live sheep into Dwayne Peel’s room.

Next, the uplifting but ultimately heartbreaking tale of 2011, the tournament that made the world want to be Welsh. Sam Warburton recalls the red card that left a nation blue and robbed them of a final against the All Blacks – a match many pundits believe they could have won.

In 2015, injury-blighted Wales defeated host nation England in the most dramatic game of the tournament but come up short against Australia even when the Wallabies were down to 13 men. And while Twickenham was the official hub Cardiff proved once again why it’s the best rugby host city on earth.

World Cup Dragons ends with a look ahead to Japan 2019 – can the coach who took Wales to a semi-final in 2011 go one better on his swansong?

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 22 Sep 2019 18:00

Broadcasts

  • Thu 19 Sep 2019 18:30
  • Fri 20 Sep 2019 05:30
  • Sun 22 Sep 2019 18:00