The Curious Case of the Food-Poisoned Rugby Team

Just days before the food poisoning incident, All Blacks flanker Paul Henderson was going about his business when he bumped into a strange man in his hotel, just several floors above the All Blacks’ rooms.

The man spoke in a British accent. He was sweating profusely. He looked unkempt, as if he had not shaved in days. But the most memorable thing about him? He was a bookie — one whose betting business had received an overwhelming number of bets that the All Blacks were going to win… and who would go bankrupt if the betters were right.

This man clearly wanted the All Blacks to lose. But was he desperate enough to poison them?

• Henderson certainly seems to think so. “If anyone was going to have the motivation [to poison us] then it would have to be that chap up there,” Henderson said in an interview with the New Zealand Herald. “He was freaking out and saying all these things. He said [his business] was going to go under, because if the All Blacks won and he had to honour his bets then he was out the back door.”
• And according to the New Zealand Herald, the All Blacks’ coach was later told that bookies of various betting syndicates may have been involved. He heard this story from a businessman in London… the same place the strange man was from, if his accent is anything to go on.

So could this man have been the culprit? We will never know for sure. The man vanished without a trace, and no proof was ever found. So it remains a mystery.

Source: New Zealand Herald

June 22nd, 1995. The All Blacks in the hotel’s dining hall watched eagerly as their food was served. As they chatted among themselves, they smiled at the friendly waitress who flitted around the table, topping up everyone’s drinks. The nametag on her uniform said SUZIE.

When the vomiting and diarrhoea started, several of the All Blacks realised that she was one of the only people who could have tampered with their food… and their suspicions were confirmed when she disappeared from the hotel right before the big game.

Who was this mysterious server, and was she the reason for the All Blacks’ downfall?

• Bodyguard Rory Steyn, who had been part of the All Blacks’ security team during the Rugby World Cup, has voiced his belief that the drinks were tampered with.  “I believe it was the water that was got at, because the food that was served at lunch time was chicken burgers and hamburgers,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “I think it was the coffee and the tea and possibly even the drinking water.” And who was in charge of the drinks? Suzie, of course.
• Laurie Mains, the All Blacks’ coach, also saw the waitress as a suspect. In the aftermath of the food poisoning, Mains was so enraged that he hired a private investigator to find out the truth… and all leads pointed to Suzie. This was enough to convince Mains. “I’ve had the results of an investigation that were done internally in South Africa revealed to me,” he told the media. Unfortunately, Suzie had long since vanished into thin air… and the case was never solved.

So could Suzie the server have been involved in a plot to take down the All Blacks? It is certainly possible. Why she might have done it, however, remains a mystery — as do her whereabouts.

Sources: Wales Online

Despite all the rumours and accusations, it is also possible that the All Blacks’ food poisoning was caused by — well, pure bad luck.

• After all, food poisoning is relatively common. The food served that day could very well have gone bad without anyone noticing. Or perhaps the milk was sour when the players used it in their coffee and tea.
• And although many think that it was that June 22nd lunch that caused the All Blacks’ stomach issues, some are convinced that the cause was much simpler: a seafood feast that the All Blacks had inhaled just a few days prior. “They ate seafood, sort of prawns, crayfish and stuff days before [the] World Cup final,” Ed Griffiths, the CEO of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, told RugbyPass. “I mean, most people would know that seafood is something that at the wrong time can give you food poisoning.” According to him, the All Blacks caused their own downfall. “No one forced them to eat seafood days before the World Cup final,” he said.

Griffiths poses an interesting theory. But if all of the All Blacks had eaten the seafood, why were some of them spared from the food poisoning… and why did the sickness only occur after their June 22nd lunch?

Unfortunately, the mystery remains unsolved — even today.

Sources: RugbyPass