They won the cup by being the best prepared team in it and by playing the most outstanding rugby, setting standards which other countries took two or three years to match. The cup-winning team, led by Andy Dalton off the field but by David Kirk on it because of injury to Dalton, formed the basis of the unbeaten All Blacks of the 1987-90 period. It was coached and selected by quite possibly the finest selection triumvirate the All Blacks have had – Brian Lochore was the coach and his two assistants were Alex Wyllie and John Hart, both of them later All Black coaches. The All Blacks were never seriously tested in the cup, beating Italy, Fiji and Argentina in pool matches, Scotland in a quarterfinal, Wales in a semifinal and, at Eden Park, they beat France 29-9 in the first World Cup final. Return to the Inductee list