The Story of Rugby World Cup 1995 South Africa (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Additional Footage Interviews-Cast & Crew Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	181:47 (Case: 210)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Dual
RPI	?	Music	None Given

    1995 was a momentous year for world rugby not only on the field but off it as well. I previously reviewed an excellent documentary which focused on the off field goings-on involving Rupert Murdoch & Kerry Packer both trying to get control of the game. The review of that film Stealing Rugby can be found here. This new two disc set is focused on the on-field action from the World Cup of that year, hosted by South Africa. I would assume this set is being released to coincide with South Africa's hosting of the 2010 Football World Cup and with the recent release of a movie based on this story, Invictus.

    The main program here is made up of two components, both very worthwhile. The first disc contains complete coverage of the final, the momentous and somewhat controversial game between the host nation and the New Zealand squad which had swept all before it in the lead up games. The second disc contains an hour long highlights show of the entire tournament including Australia's rather lacklustre showing in South Africa. All of the material is from 1995 and would seem to be taken from previously released VHS presentations.

    All in all this is an excellent souvenir of a momentous World Cup for Rugby and something which would certainly be of interest to fans of the game.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio, non 16x9 enhanced which would be the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was not particularly sharp and clear but watchable. The picture was quite grainy and there were also some MPEG artefacts during motion but nothing which made it unwatchable.

    The colour was quite good but a little dull at times.

    Other artefacts included some aliasing, some microphony especially from helicopter shots and some badly done transition between titles during the final. For some reason the footage of the final is divided up into 5 titles rather than chapters.

    There are no subtitles.

    The layer change is not noticeable during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Commentary and voiceovers were clear and easy to understand throughout.

    The music pretty much consists of the World In Union song from that World Cup.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu features music and is still.

Disc 2

Pre-Match Ceremony (26:38)

    The Ceremony and introduction before the final.

Pre-Match Footage (5:30)

    Random footage from before the final including the crowd and dignitaries.

Springbok Interviews (7:39)

    Post Match locker room interviews with the Springbok coach and players.

Sean Fitzpatick Interview (1:59)

    Post match with a very disappointed New Zealand Captain.

    The Region 2 version seems to be exactly the same. Draw

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is good.

    A small collection of worthwhile extras are included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall