As the All Blacks prepared for the 1987 Rugby World Cup final against France, Ian Borthwick listened in.

In 1987 I was lucky enough to cover the first Rugby World Cup for, amongst others, the Parisian daily, Liberation. At the time "Libe" was the leading light in sports journalism in France, and before the final I proposed that we use my inside knowledge of Eden Park to try to write an article that had never before been attempted.

I had identified a spot where, from the outside, one could hear everything that was being said inside the All Blacks' changing room. More than an hour before the kick-off, I set myself up, with the idea of writing the final preparation as a theatre script.

After the All Blacks 29-9 victory, it was published on the Monday in Paris. Its impact was huge, and over the past 20 years people in France have never stopped talking to me about it. Which is why I felt compelled to reproduce it here in its entirety, and for the first time in English.

2.10pm

The door opens, the lights go on.

All is calm. The players can be heard opening their bags, taking out their boots, mouthguards. Vague sounds of nervous breathing.

Brian Lochore (the coach, very calm, almost inaudible): Check your sprigs. We'll have to show them to the ref shortly. You'll need long ones today, but just make sure they're the ones you're comfortable with. Just be ready, because you won't be able to change them later.

Silence. Some coughing. The occasional burp from stomachs knotted with tension.

John Hart (assistant coach, also very calm): It's going to be a long wait boys. Now's the time to get concentrated.

Lochore: You are a good team. (His voice breaks with emotion). But you are not yet a great team. If you win today, you will be able to say you are a great team, and in 20 years' time, you will still be able to live on it. Great teams never die!

Alex Wyllie (assistant coach): OK, so you think you're going to win. But it's not just a matter of going out there on the field; you've still got a helluva lot of work to do out there. You're going to have to dig real deep. You're going to have to find the energy that you never even knew you had, because you're going to need it. Today you're going to have to put your bodies on the line, and give it everything you've got. So put your bodies on the line, you've got 10 weeks to recover before the Bledisloe Cup. Or, if you lose, a whole lifetime. So just go out and play as if it was the last game of your lives.

Most of the players now have their boots on. The sound of sprigs on the concrete floor. It is 2.17 pm. The toilet door slams more and more frequently.

Lochore: Tackle! Tackle! Tackle! You've got to knock them over as soon as they get the ball. Make the first tackle count, shut them down before they get any momentum. (Pause) Thirty minutes left before we go out.

2.20pm

Someone spits. Another burps.

2.22pm

Captain David Kirk starts speaking to his players, very softly. His voice is extremely calm and composed, but his words are inaudible.

2.24pm

Lochore: Let's put them under pressure. These guys will crack under pressure. From time to time the silence is broken by the sound of sprigs on the concrete floor, until 2.25pm when the players start their warm up, breathing more and more loudly.

2.25pm

Lochore: Twenty-five minutes to go! (Someone slams the toilet door.)

2.30pm

The sounds of bodies moving around. The forwards, warming up their muscles by hitting against one another. Some are running on the spot, others slapping their legs to warm them. As most of the warm-up consists of stretching, these are static exercises which make no noise. Following the instructions of Jim Blair, their fitness coach, they stretch for at least 20 minutes, from head to toe.

Kirk: Remember you are All Blacks! You carry with you the memory of the past. That is our strength.

Lochore: Ninteen minutes!

Kirk: We need urgency. Urgency in everything we do. Tackle, tackle! It's the first tackle that counts. Put them on the bloody ground. Any tackle where you don't put them on the ground is a missed tackle. And if there is any loose ball on the ground, jump on it! Urgency!

Lochore: (Daniel Dubroca has just won the toss, deciding to play into the wind and the sun in the first half.) Listen to me! We've got the kick-off and we're playing with the wind. Man! We're going to make such a good start that the French won't know what's hit them. How arrogant can they be, these Frogs? They obviously think they can come from behind in the second half. But that'll be the day!

Kirk: Remember Nantes. Does it still hurt?

Lochore: It still hurts me. I know that Buck (Wayne Shelford) is still hurting.

Kirk: Yeah, Buck, and you didn't even finish the game.

2.35pm

More and more players go to relieve themselves in the toilet. One of them is dry-retching.

Lochore: We're going for gold. We want to be number one. Are you ready to be number one? Joe (Stanley), are you ready? Sean (Fitzpatrick)? Foxy (Grant Fox)?

Kirk: Second isn't second. Second is nowhere. We're going for gold. There shouldn't even be any bloody second prize, there are no prizes for finishing second. (forcefully) We're going for gold!!!

Lochore: Fifteen minutes, it's countdown time.

Andy Dalton (the original captain, who was ruled out with injury): We must control the ball. In the lineouts, go for the two-handed takes. Control it. They don't like the driving game when we start pressuring them up front, when we drive it up. Don't give an inch, split their pack in two. They mustn't get any ball. So hang on to it in the tackle; we need to ruck it, we need good fast ball for the backs. On the wing we've already got gold. Just give JK (John Kirwan) and Greeny (Craig Green) a chance. Give JK half a chance, give Greeny half a chance, and they'll do the rest. ARE YOU READY FOR THE SUPREME EFFORT?

Kirk: When the ball is on the deck, we are all loosies. If Kipper (fullback John Gallagher) needs help we are all fullbacks. Urgency! Urgency!!!

2.40pm

Everything still seems very calm. The silence is broken only by the clacking of sprigs, burping, dry-retching, the sound of bodies warming up. Michael Jones, then Craig Green do a couple of sprints on the spot, then another sprint to the urinal.

Lochore: Twelve minutes!

Dalton: There's a helluva job waiting for you guys out there and you're going to have to work f---en hard for it. You've gotta be aggressive, you've gotta be arrogant, you've gotta be gold. We've gotta be number one, because there is nothing better!

2.50pm

Kirk: Loosies, think about the pressure! The tight five, you too: pressure! Get through their lineout, get around the field, do everything you can. Pressure! Pressure! Pressure!

Dalton: We've got to take the game to them. Steve (McDowell) and Drakey (John Drake), they know they're up against it. Last year you lay down in front of them. But not this time. We're not going to finish second this time. No bloody way.

Lochore: Over the past four or five weeks we've played some great rugby. Just keep it up, just go out there and play the same way we have been playing since we started.

Kirk: There's just one thing to think about. Put him on the deck, hit him, hit him, hit him! We MUST win. That cup is ours, if we are prepared to take it. If we fail, it means that we're not good enough.

The sound of more and more players running on the spot, gradually picking up the pace. The rhythm of their breathing is also becoming faster and faster.

Dalton: You are going to think about this game for your whole lives. Will they talk about the 1987 All Blacks for a lifetime, or will it only last 80 minutes? We all want to be number one, but today you really have to earn it.

Hart (speaking softly to Fox): Foxy, you're a little gem. Relax. You're the best, give us your best today.

Lochore: Four minutes boys.

Everything is still so calm inside the changing room, one wonders when the shouting is going to start. Lochore is speaking in hushed tones, very calmly, so softly it is impossible to hear what he says.

Dalton: They reckon we've got the best loose forwards. Well, it's time to prove it today. Jonesy, Buck, AJ (Whetton), prove it to us. There is not much time left. You are going to need all the strength you've got as much as possible for 80 minutes. And afterwards, you've got your whole lives to think about these 80 minutes.

Lochore: Two minutes!

Wyllie: Remember, you're going to look back on this game for the rest of your lives. But first of all you've got to get out there and tackle, f---en tackle! The only way to beat these c---- is to tackle them off the pitch.

Dalton: Yeah, think about it: if you are second, all you'll get is a lousy bloody tankard. There shouldn't even be a prize for coming second. We want gold, not a bloody tankard. So tackle, dammit, tackle! Play with pride, dignity and character. This is a good All Black team. If we win, it will be a GREAT All Black team!

Kirk: We are the best. Every yard, every tackle, every kick, make it count. It's going to be close today, f---en close. So get stuck into them right from the start; for the first 10 minutes, just think up! Up! Up! The first 10 minutes, the first 10 minutes, that's where the game will be won or lost.

Lochore: Are you ready?

Calmly, they file out of the changing room. And in keeping with their tradition of the time, the last man out shouts:

Andy Dalton: "Losing is for c----! And we're not c----, are we!"

The lights go out, the door slams shut.

Ian Borthwick is covering the world cup for L'Equipe.