The country’s biggest and most vibrant city will go into rugby overdrive on the weekend: sold-out World Cup matches in Auckland less than 24 hours apart. One involves long-time and often bitter rivals, the other Pacific island foes with a huge local fan base.
First up is tonight’s blockbustre between New Zealand and France. Tomorrow afternoon, another 60,000 will pack Eden Park for the match between Fiji and Samoa.
The Viaduct area, known as “Party Central,” is expected to be packed with fans hoping to see their always-adored All Blacks beat the dreaded French, who have knocked New Zealand out of two of the last three World Cups, and tens of thousands of Fijians and Samoans who now call the City of Sails home.
The New Zealand capital of Wellington got the World Cup extended weekend started yesterday when Australia and the United States played a Pool C match. England, in first place in Pool B, takes on Romania today.
The other matches tomorrow are Ireland vs. Russia at Rotorua and then the key encounter between Argentina and Scotland. The Scots need a win if they hope to keep their streak of having qualified for the quarter-finals at all seven World Cup tournaments.
The talking point all week has been the All Blacks’ match against the French, and whether their coach, Marc Lievremont, named a B team without some of his best forwards and by moving scrumhalf Morgan Parra out of position and into flyhalf.
The controversy has taken some of the gloss off the fact that New Zealand captain Richie McCaw will play his 100th test, the first All Black to achieve the feat.
Questions over France’s team wouldn’t be an issue if Ireland hadn’t beaten Australia last weekend in the tournament’s biggest upset yet.
The Wallabies’ 15-6 loss threw the quarterfinal matchups into serious disarray, and now cab drivers, former players, coaches and armchair pundits are wondering if New Zealand and South Africa could have an easier path to the final and avoid each other and Australia – the world’s top three ranked teams – if they lost a pool game.
For his part, former All Blacks No. 8 Zinzan Brooke sounded like a rugby traitor.
“First time, I’ve ever had to say this: ‘I actually want the All Blacks to lose. I want the All Blacks to lose,” Brooke said on a video clip called ‘This Is The Game’. “I’m finding it hard for me to say that. I don’t want to play Australia in the semifinal.”
Assistant New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said if the All Blacks lose, it won’t be for lack of trying.
Samoa and Fiji named their teams yesterday for the big match tomorrow involving countries separated by 1,140 kilometres (710 miles) of South Pacific Ocean.
Veteran flyhalf Nicky Little will be back in the starting side and set to make his 70th test appearance for Fiji.
The 35-year-old Little, who was on the reserves bench for Fiji’s last match, a 49-3 loss to defending champions South Africa, is appearing in his fourth World Cup. He is his country’s most-capped player, highest points scorer and broke the record for most appearances by a Fijian when he came on as a replacement against the Springboks.
At Dunedin, England wants a reduced penalty count today as much as a big win when it takes on Romania in its third game of the tournament.
Players and coaches have been frustrated by 25 penalties in wins over Argentina and Georgia, offences that they say stem from naivety and overeagerness. So manager Martin Johnson says he’ll take quality over quantity against the eastern Europeans.