• May 22 down the years

Rugby Union's first World Cup kicks off

David Kirk guided New Zealand to World Cup glory © Getty Images

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1987
Rugby union's first ever World Cup match. Excitement and anticipation had been mounting for years. Too may years. More than thirty after the rugby league version, the amateurs finally got their act together. With South Africa banned for their racist policies, the event was staged in the biggest rugby country on earth - with its population of a whole three million. New Zealand was an obvious choice - except that it was a tad unfair at the time. Their team was easily the fittest and best-prepared in the world, so they didn't really need home advantage. Boo hiss. Still, anyway, here they were, opening the tournament with the gentlest of warm-ups. Italy were a long way from being good enough to join the Five Nations. Their forwards were nothing like the imposing specimens they are today - and they conceded the first try to New Zealand after a series of five-yard scrums. Their captain Marzio Innocenti dived into one of them, and the first World Cup score was a penalty try. Oh well. Openside flanker Michael Jones was making his international debut, and already showing the class that made him one of the all-time greats. He scored a try after a back-row move, and his captain David Kirk scored a third. But the All Blacks led only 17-3 at half-time, and when Oscar Collodo kicked his second penalty, the score was 17-6, which is what the final score sounds like. Italy collapsed in the second half and lost 70-6. The match was memorable for John Kirwan's 85-yard run through most of the opposition team. He scored two of his team's 12 tries, and fly-half Grant Fox converted eight and kicked a couple of penalties. At the time, it was New Zealand's highest total in an international match, a record that lasted five days, when they beat Fiji 74-13. The rest of their progress was equally processional, all the way to the final on June 20.

2003
Swedish superstar Annika Sörenstam became the first woman golfer to play in the men's PGA Tour since Babe Zaharias competed at the Los Angeles Open in 1945. Before the event, the Bank of America Colonial in Fort Worth in Texas, Vijay Singh said he'd withdraw if he was paired with her. He was on pretty safe ground: his name was drawn from a different pool. Scott Hoch voiced similar sentiments. Unlike Zaharias, Sörenstam missed the cut, but she showed a lot more class than some.

1966
In the opening round of the World Championship, Jim Clark started on pole but his suspension went after 60 of the 100 laps. Lorenzo Bandini set the fastest lap, but he finished second, 40 seconds behind Jackie Stewart. Under new regulations, cars completing less than 90% of the race weren't classified, so points were awarded to only four drivers. Stewart's good start didn't continue. He crashed in the next race and missed the one after that. Jack Brabham won four in a row on his way to winning the title for the first time since 1960.

Jody Scheckter was as quick as anything on four wheels © Sutton Images

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In 1977, Jody Scheckter had won the opening race of the year, and success at Monaco increased his big lead in the Championship. When pole sitter John Watson's gearbox failed, Scheckter held off Niki Lauda by less than a second. But he couldn't do that for the rest of the year. Lauda beat him to the title by 17 points.

2005
The first Heineken Cup final staged at Murrayfield was between two French clubs. Stade Français led for most of the game, David Skrela kicking four penalty goals to three by Jean-Baptiste Elissalde of Toulouse. Then Frédéric Michalak took over the kicking and landed a last-minute penalty. In extra time, he kicked another and landed a drop goal to win Toulouse the Cup 18-12.

1987
Robert Emmian set a European long jump record that looks likely to be with us for years to come. Competing at the helpful high altitude of Tsakhkadzor in Armenia, he jumped 8.86 metres to break his own 8.61 set at sea level the previous year.

1999
Two brothers on opposite sides in an international match. Graeme and Steve Bachop both played Test rugby for the All Blacks, but today Graeme was at scrum-half for Japan and Steve fly-half for Samoa. Japan came from 20-14 down at half-time to win 37-34. One of their four tries was scored by No.8 Jamie Joseph, who also used to play for New Zealand.

1988
Rugby league is Papua New Guinea's national sport. Today they scored four tries in a World Cup match against Great Britain, two of them by Dairi Kovae, another by star winger Arnold Krewanty. It wasn't nearly enough. GB scored seven, including two each by Henderson Gill and Garry Schofield, and Paul Loughlin kicked seven goals. But those four tries conceded suggested a certain vulnerability. Sure enough, Great Britain didn't reach the final.

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