Rugby World Cup: Dramatic images that captured the moment - 1987

David Kirk and Andy Dalton hold the Willam Webb Ellis Trophy after the 1987 Rugby World Cup final. Photo / Getty Images

A captains’ embrace, an unhappy alliance, and a rampaging youngster who became the face of the game are defining images of past campaigns.

A moment of great significance for both players - David Kirk the new captain, in from the cold after refusing to tour South Africa with rebel New Zealand team the Cavaliers the year before, and Andy Dalton, ruled out of the World Cup due to a hamstring injury in the days before the tournament.

Previous captain Dalton was fit to play from the quarter-finals, but the selectors kept faith with new hooker Sean Fitzpatrick and he didn't play a match.

Kirk said his actions in giving the cup to Dalton high up in the Eden Park stand following its presentation weren't premeditated; it just felt like the right thing to do.

"He [Dalton] was quite shy about it and didn't think he ought to be there. But I thought, 'this guy should be involved'," Kirk told the BBC later.

Kirk, who would later become a Rhodes Scholar, medical doctor, CEO, scholar and writer, told The Guardian: "It was interpreted by the press as some sort of healing process, after what had happened the previous year [controversial Cavaliers tour], but it was really more an instinctive human response to embrace Andy because I knew he must have been hurting after missing out on the World Cup."

Kirk said the 29-9 final victory over France touched him in unexpected ways.

"There was a touch of melancholy. It must be how people feel at the top of Everest. They are here for only 20 minutes and won't ever be back. The only way is to go back down.

"Only later, after I'd had time to reflect, did I think there was a sense of having moved on, and a sense of harmony in a win that New Zealanders celebrated together."

Kirk's reward for leading the then amateur All Blacks to World Cup glory in the inaugural tournament?

A medal and an ornamental bottle of sake from the team's sponsors.