Historic opening at Millennium Stadium
They cleared the cranes, brought in a pitch and then allowed 27,683 fans came in to see Wales beat South Africa for the first time in more than 90 years of trying on 26 June, 1999. The 29-19 victory by Rob Howley’s side included a try by centre Mark Thomas that is immortalised as the first scored at the new home of Welsh rugby. The honour of scoring the first points went to Neil Jenkins with a first minute penalty. At the 1999 Rugby World Cup a few months later he would take over as the world record points scorer.
Wales: Shane Howarth; Gareth Thomas, Mark Taylor Allan Bateman, Dafydd James; Neil Jenkins, Rob Howley (captain); Peter Rogers, Garin Jenkins, Dai Young, Craig Quinnell, Chris Wyatt, Colin Charvis, Brett Sinkinson, Scott Quinnell
Reps Used: Mike Voyle, Andrew Lewis, Jonathan Humphreys
Reps Unused: Leigh Davies, Stephen Jones, David Llewellyn, Ben Evans
