Rugby World Cup 1995 | The year of Braveheart, OJ Simpson, Gangsta's Paradise and the mighty Springboks

When the world’s rugby powers gathered in South Arica 30 years ago for the Rugby World Cup, the soundtrack was Coolie’s Gangsta’s Paradise while OJ Simpson’s flee from justice was one of the first “crimes” captured on television.

The American football star would be found not guilty by a court of murdering his girlfriend Nicole Brown, with 150 million people watching on live television, but many apartheid villains would not be as Nelson Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa.

It was a cleansing experience for a Rainbow Nation that continued its welcome into the wider world after democratic elections in 1994.

This was the year when Microsoft’s Windows ’95 swept the across the world and altered how we operated computers. This was the first year that the internet was entirely privatised, with the United States government no longer providing public funding, marking the beginning of the “Information Age.”

In January of 1995, an earthquake in Japan killed 5 000 people, while — and here is an unfortunate surprise — Israel and Palestine bombed each other.

In cheerier news on the sporting front, spinner Anil Kumble took 19 wickets in a first-class match while in Zimbabwe, Andy (156) and Grant Flower (201) set a brotherly world record stand of 269 to propel Zimbabwe to a first-ever victory in Test cricket against Pakistan. This was the golden era of cricket for South Africa’s neighbours and they won that first Test by an innings in Harare.

In more austere matters in February, the financial world was rocked by one of the first big banking collapses in the modern western world — rogue trader Nick Leeson sank London finance house Barings Bank after his investments in Singapore went horribly south.

Like any year, there were tragedies, including a sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway that killed numerous commuters, and there was the awful Oklahoma bomb blast in the USA.

In the arts, the memorable movies of 1995 were Babe, Braveheart, Leaving Las Vegas, The Usual Suspects, and Dead Man Walking.

While Coolio’s song was No 1 in South Africa and could have been the theme tune for Joburg 30 years later, the most popular song in the world was Mariah Carey’s One Sweet Day. It was the No 1 song on the Billboard charts for a record-breaking 16 weeks.

Closer to the Rugby World Cup, held in winter in South Africa, the Wimbledon champions were (women) Steffi Graf, who beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, while Pete Sampras beat Boris Becker.

As the rugby kicked off in June, South Africa announced the abolishment of capital punishment in the country at the same time as France caused international waves by launching nuclear tests in French Polynesia.

The biggest shock waves of all were reserved for New New Zealand. On June 24 of that year, the invincible All Blacks were beaten 15-12 by the Springboks in the final of the World Cup. Reportedly, the Land of the Long White Shroud has never recovered.