Final(ly)

I have held reservations in the last two weeks about the appropriateness of the Rugby World Cup but in looking at other sports it is the general trend that it is a “once-off” tournament which has no bearing on world rugby. It just means that for the four weeks of the tournament the winning team has won seven games in a row — no easy feat. The Fifa Soccer World Cup in 2010 shook the soccer world when Argentina, Brazil or Germany didn’t make it to the final … did I leave out England (of course I did). Only cricket has to all intents and purposes played out to what I would call a reflective end with Australia the Cricket World Cup winners for three years in a row and then India playing Sri Lanka in 2011.

Back to the rugby though, somehow the International Rugby Board gets this draw right every year. Since 1999 we’ve had north vs south — quite uncanny. Some may argue that it’s absolutely necessary to have this balance, I myself am not so sure of that to be quite honest. But every four years the nations gather their best 32 players and deliver everything they have. Only the Sanzar nations are truly able to maintain any level of consistent performances in between world cups.

I was amazed to watch the predictions getting chiselled away match by match — the most consistent call I picked up was that SA would play Wales in the final after the exit of the Boks it was the All Blacks and Wales … exit Wales to a driven and motivated French team who once again has snuck in the back door in emphatic fashion among all types of allegations of an unsettled team unit. They have no right to be in the final based on the pool performances getting thrashed by the All Blacks and losing sensationally to Tonga but they are there.

What I am happy about is that finally the All Blacks seem to have developed some Big Match Temperament, I am not sure this would have helped against the Springboks had they made it to the semi-final. I believe that mentally the Boks would have held an edge over our respected foe. What they delivered in the semi-final was some of the best All Black rugby I have had the honour of watching — total rugby of the highest order, with no Daniel Carter, Aaron Cruden, who delivered a composed and controlled performance way beyond his young 21 years of age. The skipper, Richie McCaw, delivered a warrior-like performance marshalling his chargers to emphatic victory. For once the number one team in the world gets into the Rugby World Cup final and stands a very sound chance of winning the competition in their homeland 24 years after doing so for the first time.

The stars have aligned for All Black rugby, finally, and barring a catastrophe they should be crowned 2011 Rugby World Cup winners and the undisputed number one team in the world. I wrote in a previous article that I felt they needed to win this tournament, for the team, but more for their country, which is passionately and enthusiastically obsessed with them. New Zealand has had a rough year, a small country that was hit by a massive earthquake literally re-shaping Christchurch — sport has the immense power to unite and heal — I have seen it twice in South Africa.

So final(ly) time is here … will the All Blacks walk this path to their 2011 rugby destiny? I truly hope so and as the respected rugby enemy we have an eternal friend in the nation of New Zealand and this is one Bok supporter that will be wearing green, gold, black and white come the Rugby World Cup 2011 final.

KE NAKO ALL BLACKS!!! KE NAKO!!!