Kiwiblog

Sir Loin at Roarprawn blogs:

These men are sought in connection with a violent gang rape of Dunedin City Council ratepayers and BNZ shareholders last night. Another man, Steve Tew , is assisting police with their inquiries. Police advise members of the public that this organised criminal group is hazardous to local body financial health and should under no circumstances be approached. Any siting should be reported to 0800 ORFU FU.

“Otago Rugby Football Union Staff List and Office Holders

President Sir Eion Edgar
Vice President Adrian Read
Chairman Wayne Graham
Deputy Chairman Laurie Mains
Director Richard Bunton
Director Dave Callon
Director John Faulks 
Director Willis Paterson
Director Russell Cassidy
Director Andrew Rooney
Director John Hammer”

Heh, sadly true.

The inevitable has happened and Jock Hobbs had died. For me it is especially poignant as Hobbs was All Black Captain when I was at secondary school and like most my age worshiped the All Blacks.

His contribution to NZ rugby administration is immense, and arguably unparalleled. His death is several decades too early. The most moving aspect of the Rugby World Cup for me was when Hobbs presented Richie McCaw with his 100th test cap. You could see how ill Hobbs was, and knew he couldn’t have much time to go.

Hobbs also had an interest in politics, and would have made an excellent MP and Minister if he had ever said yes to numerous entreaties to stand.

As always my condolences go out to his family, and close friends.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand Cricket says claims some New Zealand cricketers have been allegedly involved in match-fixing simply aren’t credible. …

Players for all the main cricketing nations took part, the bookmakers claimed, and New Zealanders were currently being offered to bookmakers to help fix matches.

One bookmaker claimed to have fixed matches with two New Zealand players – who he named – in 2010. The newspaper did not publish the names.

Last night New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association boss Heath Mills told the Herald the allegations were a slur on every player in New Zealand.

I don’t think our players throw games, because they get paid to do so. I think they just play like crap occasionally regardless of financial incentive!

Stuff reports:

All Black great Chris Laidlaw believes the crisis in Otago rugby highlights the need for provincial rugby to return to its amateur roots. …

That would be about as successful as King Canute was (and he was making a point on purpose).

• Coach of the Year – Sir Graham Henry
• Sportsman of the Year – Richie McCaw
• Team of the Year – the All Blacks
• Sportswoman of the Year – Valerie Adams
• Emerging Athlete – Jacko Gill
• Favourite Sporting Moment – the All Blacks
• Disabled Sportsperson – Sophie Pascoe
• Supreme Award – the All Blacks

It was the Al Blacks’ year. No arguments from me.

Also of note:

• Sports Hall of Fame - John Kirwan, Philippa Baker, Brenda Lawson
• Lifetime achievement award: Bruce Cameron
• Leadership award: Sir Murray Halberg

Halberg is now aged 78. He set up the Halberg Trust to help children with disabilities almost 50 years ago.

Post Day One Sevens brunch for our group. Very good at soaking up the alcohol.

Day Two was great. I was convinced New Zealand would lose after their semi-final vs England, where they played awfully. And Fiji was very impressive in their semi-final.

But my God, what a final. I can’t recall seeing a better performance from the NZ Sevens team. Four tries in the first half. And it wasn’t that Fiji were playing awfully – more NZ was playing very very well. The Fijians got quite bad tempered as the game went on – I don’t think they are used to being thrashed.

So a great finish to a very fun tournament. The only downside for the girls is that the Ultimate Warrior never turned up again. One of them spent most of the day looking for him!

Stuff reports:

New Zealand caddie Steve Williams has cast more aspersions on former boss Tiger Woods, keeping their feud bubbling ahead of the Presidents Cup which tees off today.

In a television interview to air around the world today, Williams, who carried Woods’ bag for 13 years until he was sacked in July, questions his former employer’s ability to win the five major championships he needs to pass Jack Nicklaus’s all-time record of 18 majors.

In the interview, which was recorded before he made a racially insensitive remark about Woods during a caddies’ end-of-season function in Shanghai a few weeks ago, Williams says he abhorred the former world No. 1′s infidelity, which was exposed by the media at the end of 2009 and led to the end of Woods’s marriage.

”I just didn’t like having my name associated with it. That sort of activity is not something that I have anything to do with,” he said.

Oh for fuck’s sake, would Steve Williams shut the fuck up. I don’t like my country’s name associated with him.

Williams seems to think it is all about him. Bad enough when he claims he got the win, when he is just the caddie (and yes I know the role is more like coach and can be vital, but at the end of the day the player gets the credit). Then he starts calling Tiger names and now he just won’t shut up about Tiger.

He’s taking Tiger dropping him about as well as a 15 year old boy whose first girlfriend dumps him.

I love this video looking at how the All Black haka was done in 1973 and today. The 1973 recital wouldn’t even scare Little Miss Muffet, to put it bluntly.

This is Tom Scott’s Saturday cartoon. He must be a time traveller! Maybe it helped inspire Donald to score what turned out to be the winning three points!

It has been a tough 12 months for New Zealand. 11 months ago, we had the Pike River explosion, and then in February the second Christchurch earthquake. On top of that, we’ve watched as countries big (US) and small (Greece) topple on the edge of disaster with debt defaults, and have wondered how badly will we be hit, if one or more countries drown under their debt burdens.

So when we won the hosting rights in 2005, who would have thought it would prove such a tonic for our country. It has captured our collective spirit in a way I’ve not seen with any other sports tournament. Why has it been so good? Many, many factors. Here’s some of the factors and people to thank in my opinion.

• Jock Hobbs and Helen Clark for winning us the hosting rights. My third favourite moment of the RWC was having Jock Hobbs present Rochie McCaw with his 100th test cap.
• Leon Grice and the RWC2011 team who implemented the concept of a stadium of four million people. Leon told me at a fairly early stage about the plans (which were part of the bid) to have teams and overseas fans “hosted” by various cities and towns, and it was an inspired idea that worked magnificently.
• Martin Snedden and the NZRFU who organised the tournament so well. I loved the choirs, and the Oles at each kick off!
• The four million Kiwis who loved being great hosts. It’s something we excel at.
• Also those who attended the games and cheered passionately for whichever team we adopted for the day. For many of the teams, they probably played to a bigger more supportive home crowd than they ever got at home.
• The party central and fan zones. They were brilliant. We are (mostly) social creatures and even the largest pub can only hold so many. They were almost too popular in Auckland, but also made the rest of the country feel part of the action.
• RWC Minister Murray McCully. Murray gets a fair bit of flak for his hands on management style and one journalist famously said Murray makes Helen Clark’s micro-management look like benign neglect! But in this case, Murray and his team’s attention to detail have  paid off in spades.
• The RWC Opening Ceremony. The comparison to 1987 RWC is like comparing humans to apes. The ceremony was Olympic-class. It was my second favourite moment of the tournament.
• The minnow teams. They all played their best games, and all 48 matches were good games to watch. This wasn’t a tournament of three or four countries, but all 20. If it were not for Canada, France would not have even made the quarter-finals, let alone the final.
• The mighty All Blacks.  They won the average pool game by 60 points to 12 – a 48 point margin. They won their quarter-final by 23 points, their semi-final by 14 points and the final by one point.
• While it is a team effort, Graham Henry and Richie McCaw impressed and inspired as coach and captain. Richie one day will sit in Olympus as one of the Gods of the game.
• The French. They hit their top form just when it was needed, to give the All Blacks the fight of their lives. The French and the Welsh should both be proud of their team’s achievements.
• The Final. I’ve never been so caught up in a game. God knows what would have happened if we had lost. I now understand why 30% of NZers said the outcome of the RWC mattered more to them than the election outcome. I was living in terror of the drop goal. Breating was optional for those last few minutes.
• The Award Ceremony. This was my number one moment of the tournament, with two parts resonating especially. McCaw holding the Webb Ellis Cup aloft. That moment will become as iconic as David Kirk’s 24 years earlier. But the most emotional moment was when the Cup was taken onto the ground by a Canterbury boy whose mother had died in the earthquake. His beaming smile of joy led to many a tear being shed, as people reflected how rare such smiles has probably been since the earthquake.

So it has been a great six weeks, and the All Blacks are world champions. Despite the euphoria, I think this will be the last Rugby World cup we host in New Zealand. But it will be a tournament that I know I, and many others, will never forget.

Feel free to share below your favourite memories. No negativity on this thread please. If you feel the need, go to General Debate.

Well the New Zealand All Blacks are the world champions by 8 points to 7. Let the celebrations begin!!!!

But full credit to the French who played a magnificent game, and performed so very very well that they must be gutted not to have won, but should be proud of their play.

Only one topic today. Our first Rugby World Cup Final in 16 years.

A few months ago most of us were braced for disappointment. We had been through this before. The All Blacks peaked too early or choked or something, and we lost.

But then as the pool play got underway, our optimism has risen and risen. We won all four games convincingly, scoring 240 points and conceding just 49. We picked up a bonus point for every game, meaning we scored at least four tries.

In our pool France barely qualified. If Tonga had beaten Canada, France would have not made the quarter-finals.

England was the only unbeaten team in Pool B, but lost at the quarter-finals, as did Argentina.

Amazingly in Pool C, Australia finished second behind Ireland. That gave us hope for the semi-final.

Pool D has the Springboks win all their games, but they held Wales off by one 1 point. They were arguably our biggest threat, but then they got knocked out by Australia despite playing the stronger game. I think it was at this point that things were really looking good. We were confident we had Australia’s measure, and sure enough they couldn’t score a try against New Zealand in 80 minutes.

So today is the day, starting at 9 pm, where we’ve got the best chance since we won the inaugural trophy to regain the title World Champions. Of course the result is far from guaranteed. France can play amazingly effective rugby when they hit top form. They have twice before beaten us at Rugby World Cups. But tonight, it should be the All Blacks’ day.

What are your picks for the score or margin? I’m saying the All Blacks by 13.

I loved the full time try to Wales. They lost, but I have never seen Wales play as well as they have in this World Cup.

So it all ends tomorrow. Where will you be watching the final, if you are?

Joseph Romanos writes at Stuff:

A second Rugby World Cup has been playing out behind the scenes in New Zealand, and it’s been just as torrid as the one that has so engrossed us since September 9.

Rugby fans have been able to watch key World Cup matches live on no less than five New Zealand channels – TV One, TV3, Maori (English version), Maori (Maori language version) and Sky.

The battle for viewers has been fascinating.

TV One began sensationally, drawing 1.015 million viewers for the first match, New Zealand against Tonga. This immediately followed the opening ceremony, also a TV One triumph.

For that first match Sky had an audience of 442,000 and Maori Television, 177,000.

As the tournament has progressed, however, the big mover has been Maori Television.

By the quarterfinals, Maori Television was the most popular of the free-to-air channels. At times its audience was virtually the combined viewership of TV One and TV3.

For the New Zealand v Argentina quarter-final, Maori Television drew 501,000, behind Sky (628,000), but well ahead of TV One (420,000) and TV3 (236,000). It has continued to rate extremely well.

Maori TV have done an excellent job with their coverage and viewers have voted with their feet. The fact they started off with 20% of the audience of TV One, and at the quarter final had more viewers is a huge tribute to them. They are showing that in many ways they are becoming our national public service broadcaster.

Tahu Potiki, a director of Maori TV, also writes:

I recall the many sceptical, sometimes scathing, comments when it was announced Maori Television was to be the lead broadcaster for the Rugby World Cup, and the political stoush that surrounded the bidding process, but it certainly seems to have been a good choice. It is unclear what the differentiating factor is, but the uninterrupted broadcast is most likely playing a part.

I know I got home late one day and turned television on just in time to catch the last bit of the national anthems. Immediately the teams had finished singing the coverage halted and we crossed to an advertisement or a promotion. I realised then I was watching the wrong channel and changed quickly to Maori TV.

I’ve watched some on Sky Sports and some on Maori TV. Have not decided yet for the final but will probably be Maori TV to hear Keith Quinn hopefully declare the All Blacks the World Champions!

Hawkes Bay Today reports:

Hawke’s Bay apple producer Apollo made a cheeky but tasteful offer to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the Rugby World Cup semifinal between the All Blacks and Wallabies.

Apollo’s director, Bruce Beaton, packed a carton of New Zealand Queen apples and asked Napier MP Chris Tremain to transport the fruit to Prime Minister John Key’s house in Auckland at the weekend.

“The idea was that if Julia was over watching the rugby with John in Auckland, she could have a tasty New Zealand apple to munch after the game,” Mr Beaton said.

She wasn’t there, but hopefully the apples will get to her in Australia.

Just seen the viewer stats for the rugby last night. As you know it was broadcast on Sky Sports, TV One, TV3 and Maori TV. Each broadcaster tends to only trumpet their own viewers, but let’s add all the individual figures up. This is the percentage of all adults and children (only excludes under five year olds) watching each channel, and the approx number of viewers:

1. TV One 17.0%, 680,000
2. Sky Sports 16.7%, 668,000
3. TV3 10.0%, 400,000
4. Maori TV 6.8%, 272,000

That adds up to 50.5% of New Zealanders or 2,020,000 Kiwis who watched the semi-final. One can only wonder what the final will get?

Which other “programmes” have had 2 million viewers?

Well a pretty impressive effort to stop the Wallabies from scoring even a single try in 80 minutes. Amazing that this will be the first time in 16 years we actually make a RWC Final. Now we just have to repeat this performance with the French.

I did reflect during the game about how much larger the win margin would have been if Dan Carter had not been injured!

Anyway back to the drinking – have a great night celebrating everyone!

Oh Wales got so very very close. They played to the best of their ability and would have won if the penalty had occurred one metre closer to the try line. The last few minutes were intense, as Wales got into the French territory but never quite got the opportunity for a drop goal.

One shouldn’t be overly confident, but hell if New Zealand wins tonight, we should beat France in the final. They have not shone, if they can only beat a 14 man Welsh team by one point.

So all eyes of All Blacks v Wallabies tonight. What are you predictions. I’m going for All Blacks by 10 points.

Wow that first half against Argentina had me worried. The final score was somewhat generous to us. Kudos to Argentina for a great game, and exposing the areas where the All Blacks need to close their vulnerabilities.

The atmosphere for the All Blacks v Wallabies semi-final will I am sure be every part as intense as the actual final.

For the other semi-final I imagine there will be 50,000 or so Kiwis who discover some distant Welsh ancestry and cheer them on against France.

The hopeful and likely final is New Zealand vs France. In one sense a nightmare as we have often crashed at their hands in the RWC, but on the other hand we thrashed them in pool play, and have shown we can have their measure.

Well they were two enjoyable quarter-finals. I was hoping Ireland would win against Wales, but Wales totally deserved the win – the best I have seen them play this tournament.

And oh it was wonderful to see France smash England. My only concern is that if we play France in the final, they might beat us!

France have to be favoured to beat Wales in their semi-final. We’ll plunge into recession if we don’t beat Argentina to make the other semi. The big unknown is whether we’ll be facing Australia or South Africa. I’m not even sure yet who to cheer for. Normally I subscribe to the “anyone playing Australia” theory but I have to say it would be good to have the Boks eliminated.

Over at Stuff in my By the numbers blog, I look at some of the questions on the election and rugby, including the fascinating fact that 30% of New Zealanders said that the outcome of the Rugby World Cup matters to them more than the outcome of the general election. Amongst under 25s this rises to 55%!

So the quarter-finals are:

1. Ireland vs Wales Sat 8 Oct 6.00 pm Wellington
2. England v France Sat 8 Oct 8.30 pm Auckland
3. South Africa v Australia Sun 9 Oct 6.00 pm Wellington
4. NZ v Argentina Australia Sun 9 October 8.30 pm Auckland (corrected)

If NZ wins, we will play the winner of South Africa v Australia. That match arguably will be the effective final.

Well done Tonga – a great performance to beat France 19-14. Sadly France still go through to the quarter-finals as Tonga had lost to Canada earlier.