1987: NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA
The inaugural Rugby World Cup was held in New Zealand and Australia and it the Wallabies were unable to take home the Webb Ellis Trophy as they stumbled against France in the semi-finals and then lost a thrilling third-place playoff against Wales.
In Pool 1 Australia began with a 19-6 win over England in Sydney, and then had comfortable wins over the United States (47-12 in Brisbane) and Japan (42-23 in Sydney).
With the All Blacks winning the first quarter-final 30-3 against Scotland, and the Welsh accounting for England 16-3, Australia overcame Ireland 33-15 in Sydney and France ousted Fiji 31-16.
The opening semi-final was a tight encounter, with the French getting the better of Australia 30-24 in Sydney. Four converted tries to France, the last of them to Serge Blanco late in the game, along with a pair of penalties, proved too much for the Wallabies, whose points came courtesy of tries to David Campese and David Codey and 16 points from the boot of Michael Lynagh.
The playoff for third and fourth place between Australia and Wales went right down to the wire, but it was the Welsh who snatched victory 22-21 in Rotorua against a Wallabies team perhaps still licking its wounds after the shock defeat to France in the semis.
Fresh from thumping Wales 49-6 in Brisbane, the All Blacks thrilled 46,000 fans at Eden Park in Auckland with an impressive 29-9 defeat of France in the decider.
1991: ENGLAND, WALES, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, FRANCE
Four years later the Wallabies went all the way, winning narrowly in three successive matches from the quarter-final stage onwards to well and truly earn their victory.
Australia had tighter than expected contests in its first two clashes of the tournament, seeing off Argentina 32-19 in Llanelli and Samoa 9-3 in Pontypool before belting a struggling Wales 38-3 in Cardiff, while Samoa went through as well, narrowly overcoming the Welsh before taming Argentina as well.
With Scotland knocking out Samoa 28-6 and England doing 19-10 against France, while New Zealand downed Canada 29-13, Lansdowne Road in Dublin hosted a terrific battle between Ireland and Australia.
The Wallabies had looked set to run away with the match but with five minutes remaining a 40m try to Gordon Hamilton gave the hosts the lead after Ralph Keyes had kept them in the game with four penalties. But a poor kick from inside his own 22 by halfback Rob Saunders gave the visitors their chance in injury time and a brilliant charge by David Campese eventually led to a try to Lynagh, who loomed up perfectly in support to take possession after Campese had passed as he was being hauled down.
Campese then also proved the match-winner when the Trans Tasman rivals clashed at Lansdowne Road. Not content with scoring the game's first try, Campese then buried the All Blacks when his miracle pass over his shoulder to Tim Horan resulted in another. The Wallabies eventually prevailed 16-6 to book their first World Cup final berth, a day after England had won a tight duel 9-6 against Scotland.
England hosted the final at Twickenham but was unable to match the Wallabies, falling into a trap set by Campese, who was critical in the lead-up of the English and their dour style. As a result England tried to play a more open game and the move backfired, with Tony Daly scoring the only try of the game. Leading 12-3 in the second half Australia was perhaps fortunate not to concede a try when Campese knocked on a pass intended for Rory Underwood, who had a clear run to the line beckoning. The referee awarded a penalty, even though the English claimed it should have been a penalty try, but there was to be no more scoring after Jonathan Webb converted as Nick Farr-Jones lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy.
1995: SOUTH AFRICA
Australia's tournament began poorly in the opening match of the tournament against host South Africa and in truth never fully recovered even though extra-time was eventually needed to separate the Wallabies and England in a repeat of the 1991 final.
The tournament began with the Boks upsetting the Wallabies 27-18 in Cape Town, and that result meant that Australia would have to play against England in the quarter-finals as it finished second in Pool A.
The Wallabies made a slow start to their battle with England before firing up after half-time but poor play eventually proved costly as England gained some measure of revenge for its defeat four years earlier when it fell across the line 26-22 in extra-time in Cape Town thanks to a Rob Andrew drop goal.
In the other quarter-finals, France downed Ireland 36-12, South Africa dumped Samoa 42-14 and New Zealand tamed Scotland 48-30.
From there the Springboks won another tight match 19-15 against France and the All Blacks trampled England 45-29 before South Africa prevailed 15-12 in extra-time in the final, Joel Stransky's second drop goal proving the difference.
1999: WALES, ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, FRANCE
With 20 teams competing in 1999 as the tournament was largely held in Wales, it was Wallabies skipper John Eales who held the Webb Ellis Trophy aloft at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on November 6 after Australia had become the first nation to win the title twice.
Australia thumped Romania 57-9 in Belfast and was too good for the Irish in Dublin, getting home 23-3, before winding up its Pool E campaign with a 55-19 demolition of the United States.
Wales' reward for topping Pool D was a quarter-final clash with Australia and the host proved no match as the Wallabies ran away to a comfortable 24-9 win in Cardiff, while South Africa eliminated England 44-21, France restored order with a 47-26 defeat of Argentina, and New Zealand overcame Scotland 30-18.
The first semi-final at Twickenham was much like the final four years earlier, with the game decided off the boot rather than five-pointers. In a thrilling encounter that went to extra-time after Matt Burke and Jannie de Beer had exchanged plenty of penalties, Stephen Larkham potted an amazing drop goal as Australia advanced to a second final with a 27-21 win.
After the All Blacks were shocked 43-31 by France despite earlier leading 24-10, the French had again used up all of their energy in getting through their semi-final and they were little match for Eales' team, which was able to enjoy the latter stages of the game thanks to a one-sided 35-12 triumph. Owen Finegan and Ben Tune scored the tries while Burke potted both conversions and seven penalties, with France's dozen points all coming from the boot of Christophe Lamaison.
2003: AUSTRALIA
Having dominated the game in the preceding couple of years, England and New Zealand were expected to fight it out for the title but Eddie Jones's Wallabies shocked the All Blacks in the semis and it needed Jonny Wilkinson's right boot to separate the teams in the decider as his 100th-minute drop goal as extra time was running out gave the English a thrilling 20-17 victory.
The Wallabies opened the tournament against Argentina at Telstra Stadium in Sydney and emerged with a 24-8 win but it came at a cost with Ben Darwin suffering a neck injury in a scrum that unfortunately ended his career.
Australia followed up with a 90-8 demolition of Romania in Brisbane and a tournament-record 142-0 defeat of Namibia at Adelaide Oval in which Chris Latham scored five tries, before making sure of top spot in Pool A by sneaking past Ireland 17-16 at Telstra Dome.
Fresh from their narrow win over Ireland, the Wallabies were again not at their absolute best but still did enough to advance to the final four with a 33-16 victory over Scotland at Suncorp Stadium that impressed few and perhaps lulled New Zealand - its semi-final opponent - into thinking a spot in the final was a certainty.
In the other quarter-finals the Kiwis made it five-from-five when they ended the hopes of Tri-Nations rivals the Springboks 29-9, France crushed Ireland 43-21 and England dumped Wales 28-17.
With more than 82,000 fans turning up to Telstra Stadium for what many expected to be a comfortable All Blacks win, the Wallabies bounced out of the blocks with a try inside 10 minutes to Stirling Mortlock, which was converted by Elton Flatley. From there the hosts held New Zealand at arm's length for the rest of the game, despite Reuben Thorne's 35th-minute try, with Flatley landing five penalties to complete one of the great upsets in tournament history 22-10.
Jonny Wilkinson's boot pushed England through to the decider - which would be a repeat of the 1991 final - despite France scoring the only try of the game. Wilkinson's five penalties and three drop goals in the 24-7 win proved he was right on his game.
The final began promisingly for the home side when rugby league convert Lote Tuqiri crashed over after just six minutes but Flatley missed the conversion and a couple of penalties to Wilkinson gave England a 6-5 lead.
A missed drop goal attempt was soon forgotten when Wilkinson made it 9-6 with a third penalty, and the five-eighth also had a big hand in his team's first and only try when he threw the final pass for Jason Robinson to score late for a 14-5 half-time lead.
Australia rallied superbly in the second 40 minutes, holding England scoreless and drawing level by the end of regulation with a hat-trick of penalties to Flatley - the third of them with just two minutes remaining - to force a final into extra-time for just the second time in tournament history.
Wilkinson took England clear again only two minutes after play resumed with another penalty from 45m, but a penalty to the Wallabies with four minutes left saw Flatley level the scores again.
Late in the game the English threw everything into one last forward thrust and halfback Matt Dawson managed to make a break that set up Wilkinson for the winning drop goal, despite the desperate late lunge of Justin Harrison.
Unfancied before the tournament and also for much of the event until stunning the All Blacks, Australia came ever so close to making it three World Cup wins, but an entire nation was left delighted by its first major success since the 1966 Football World Cup thanks to Wilkinson's late heroics.