All Blacks out for WC rugby glory

Sunil KARUNANAYAKE

For the last several weeks it has been case of watching and talking rugby day and night as it fits. This grand spectacle is relatively young commencing in 1987 as against Olympics, football and cricket that were well-established for decades.

But today world cup rugby has captured the hearts of sports fans all over the globe. Unfortunately Asian countries have not been able to match the opponents from European and Australian sub-continent teams.

Last Sunday New Zealand All blacks covered themselves with glory with a facile 20-6 win over the Australian Wallabies. This was a great performance by the New Zealanders whose fellow countrymen were badly affected due to natural disasters, on the other hand Australia with a booming economy is now considered as the next golden state in the world.

New dimension

World cup rugby has taken the world by storm with many new entrants in the fray, presence of teams like USA and Russia added a new dimension. The stadium is a sea of heads and a festive atmosphere prevails. Sports events of this nature stimulate trade and the host country benefits.

It was reported that Thailand has been eagerly awaiting the world cup football in South Africa with much eagerness not for the enjoyment of the sport but for the commercial benefit that would accrue to their sports goods manufacturers who were badly affected by the recession.

Hosting large sports tournaments does not yield super profits or economic benefits of that magnitude but it does increase happiness among people. South Africa who hosted the last World Cup Football that was affected by apartheid entered a new era under Nelson Mandela also had the opportunity of hosting Rugby Wodld Cup in 1999.

"Soccernomics" authored by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski elaborates in detail how sports could help economy. New Zealand too may not be a great beneficiary from the tournament but the gross national happiness is bound to improve by leaps and bounds. Millions of viewers who watched the World Cup Rugby too would've improved their happiness levels not only from the champagne rugby but also from the panoramic scenes of this beautiful country and the greenery while the nights gave festive mood.

Last Saturday France overcame a never say die Wales team to become the finalists and will now take on the mighty All blacks from New Zealand in the coveted Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park in New Zealand. Hosting mega sports events are now said to be bringing substantial economic benefits.

Firm favourites

Inaugural World Cup winners All Blacks undoubtedly go as firm favourites though not having won the World Cup in 24 years, however their test performance is impressive having won 354 out of 473 tests at a success rate of 75 percent. They also ended 2010 Tri nations on a triumphant note. All Blacks also have not lost at the Eden Park a popular venue for finals and semi-finals for 17 years.

All these augur well for Captain Richie McCaw and his men of the caliber of strongly built Daniel Carter who has scored over 1000 points now competing with Jonny Wilkinson for the world record and heavy weight front row forward Owen Franks.

Nippy scrum half

To me the most impressive or interesting of the All Blacks was nippy scrum half Piri Weepu who was always at the thick of it, his place kicking too is of high standard though his success rate at the semi final was below expectations. Apart from McCaw and Weepu other stalwarts of repute are Kirean Read, Jerome Kaino - this crop of players probably represents the Worlds cream.

France have been finalists in 1987 and 1999 but was deprived of winning the cup, however they have got the better of All Blacks in 1999 and 2007.

Unpredictable

According to the reports French are considered unpredictable and lack of consistency in their style of play, their current form has been far from impressive, last year they suffered a humiliating 59-16 defeat in the test against wallabies but in the current six nations they lost to England 17-9.

Key stalwarts among the French are Fugence Ouderarogo a classic flank forward and Maxime Medard and full back of much promise. Though on form they appear to be underdogs they have the potential for causing an upset.

Lets get ready for the big final this Sunday Eden Park in New Zealand!

Now nearly three four decades later rugby has gone through a complete transformation. Dominance is by the forwards they use the muscle and power ruthlessly and advance over the heads of opponents, at the back a smart lock is waiting cunningly with the ball hidden in his hand and at the appropriate moment sends it out to the Fly half who more often will give a booming kick to gain advantage and the forwards will pile over for the ball again.

Mauls are ruthless

Saga continues, the beauty is ball moves rhythmically and the play goes on. The scrums and the line outs are tidy, mauls are ruthless. The game continues with least disruption and the injury time too is negligible. It was also pleasant to note the cool and calculated way the referees handle the game and even the red card too issued with a smile.

It seems that apart from the forwards other key positions are the fly half and the full back who are expected to gain territorially with deep booming kicks - perhaps bringing back memories of former Havelock's and Trinity Fly half Glen Vanlangenberg, late Nimal Maralande and the Ratnam brothers Jeff and Dan. Glen too was a good place kicker but the amiable Jeyer Rodriguez also of Havelock's was said to be having magic boots!