I’ve been in Auckland for less than 48 hours but I only needed 48 minutes to see how caught up the country is with the Rugby World Cup. Every other car on the road has, if not an All Blacks flag stuck to its window the colours of another competing nation. Samoa is one of the more popular ones I’ve seen, not only on vehicles but proudly adorning verandas.
Then there are the shop fronts. Even window displays that feature items far removed from the rugby field – glasses, wellington boots and fresh fish to name just three – have got in on the act with banners and posters declaring their support of the All Blacks.
One of the most popular posters in town covers much of a side of a building near the Sky Tower. The model on the poster? One Dan Carter, clad only in his skintight boxers. Black, of course. Though I haven’t witnessed this myself, people have reportedly been stopping their cars to take a shot of the All Blacks’ most prized possession.
At yesterday’s England press conference it was another aesthetically gifted fly-half who was the centre of attention. Everyone wanted to talk to Jonny Wilkinson, eight years after that famous drop-goal still the biggest name in English rugby. So surrounded was he by press that his team-mate Mike Tindall couldn’t even see him and wondered what all the fuss was about!
It was the news that emerged later, however, that stole the day. England coaches Dave Alred and Paul Stridgeon banned for tomorrow’s final pool game with Scotland after interfering with the balls during the Romania match. They gave Wilkinson a different ball for two conversions when the law states that the ball kicked should be the one that the try was scored with.
It was a clear breach of the laws – though you see that in every game and no one gets banned, if they did there’d be no scrum-halves left because they’d all be banned for crooked feeds! Fortunately for England the IRB seem to be happy with the coaches rather than Wilkinson spending time under hotel arrest. And no doubt the TV cameras will be keeping a vigilant eye on events at Eden Park tomorrow night to ensure the sly tactics aren’t repeated.
Let’s hope that this ball drama doesn’t detract from what should be a compelling game between England and Scotland, with the qualifiers of Pool B still in the balance.
My first live game of this World Cup certainly didn’t disappoint. South Africa’s narrow win over Samoa was a brutal encounter with fearsome hits, legal and not so. The handling from Samoa was sublime, really outstanding, and they really deserved more than the solitary try they scored. They’re going home and the World Cup will be poorer without their skill and their passion.
To end, here’s a list of random things I’ve seen today:
1. A couple dancing the tango on the side of Queen Street.
2. A journalist wearing sunglasses in the evening – and inside. Come on, you’re not Jay-Z!
Tags: Auckland, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa, World Cup
