We're not "bringing home the cup", they'll just bring it to us in 4 years....

The last time we lost the world cup i was there, watching with horror as Stirling Mortlock dotted down under the sticks at Stadium Australia about twenty metres from where i sat stone faced surrounded by geering, rapturous aussies. I'd invested $AU400 in this B class seat and had taken a tirad of abuse (mainly verbal and some physical) that night. I think collectively it was the worst night of my life and this morning as i watched the wheels fall off another "world beating" All Black campaign, that sick feeling kinda returned to my stomach. Sports a funny buisness, every world cup we've come from World No 1 ranking to losing, everytime since 87 with the possible exception of 91. If it hadn't been the world cup I wouldn't mind betting we'd have put 50 points on this French side. But this is now the centre stage in the act of rugby drama, teams lift big time playing the All Blacks and can get away with throwing caution to the wind when playing the AB's because they are "never expected to win." We've never quite managed to cope with this and this morning was just another tick to the "chokers" box we've earned over the past 16 years. There's enough analysis of this game going on around the country to bore anyone interested so my little pitch is just adding to the sense of gloom our dear Aoteoroa, land of the long, bleak, grey cloud is feeling right now. I just hope it lifts fairly quickly, its just sport right....?

Here is something I read off the "stuff" website. a little sarcastic kiwi rhetoric. we're sounding more like the English by the day don't you think?



10 reasons why it's "not so bad"



1) Richie McCaw's freshly cut hair put in a great performance.
2) They only won by two points.
3) Only one person lost $A5 million ($NZ5.89 million) by betting on us winning.
4) France could still lose the final.
5) We could have lost to Georgia.
6) Blue will never look as cool as black on a uniform.
7) What doesn't kill us can only make us stronger.
8) If it wasn't for the ref, it would have been different.
9) You can still drink your beer stockpile on New Year's Eve.
10) The French have never won an Oscar for best picture.



I've grown up living in the belief the All Blacks are by right, the best and one of the closest things sport has to invincibles. We won in 1987 when I was 4, 1991 was "a blip in the radar" and we put 1995 down to food poisoning and South Africa uniting as a post apartheid nation behind Francois Pienaars team. However 99, 03 and today I think has shaken this belief of mine and i'm sure many fellow New Zealanders hard enough that we can no longer say by right, "we are the best."

We're not bringing home our rightfully owned piece of silverware. it'll have to be bought out by someone else in 4 years time.