The desire for a competition to determine the pecking order in world rugby was realised following the International Rugby Football Board’s (IRFB) approval for an inaugural Rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand and Australia in 1987.
The Rugby World Cup is now established as the third biggest sporting event behind the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, having achieved its goal of merging the traditional powers with new and emerging nations to make it a truly worldwide sport.
Every four years the Rugby World Cup 2011 is held and this year it was in New Zealand.
Now I am not a rugby fan and the first rugby game I ever watched was with Harry and his father before we were married. We lived in Upper Hutt and went and saw the local rugby team play a game.
I sat and froze in the stand while Harry and his father cheered the team on yelling "Hutt, hutt, hutt!" along with the other supporters. It all seemed a bit odd to me.
Harry and I are now married and he is still a big fan of rugby but I still don't watch the game.
For over a year New Zealand has lead up to the Rugby World cup with countless news items and urging that the whole country get behind the event and our team, the All Blacks.
There were twenty counties in the running and games were held around the country.
And did New Zealand get behind it all?
You could not get away from it!
At first I just wanted to leave the country, as we were inundated by it all, but in the end I couldn't help but get caught up in it all and be impressed by the way New Zealand embraced, not so much the game and the All Blacks, but all the countries visiting and playing.
In fact in the end although I didn't watch any games (I still can't understand why grown men will fight over a ball!) I felt nervous as the All Blacks played; triumphant when they won and proud to be a New Zealander in the way we all joined in with the whole tournament.
And result?...
Sunday October 23 Full Time
| France | New Zealand | |
| 7 | 8 | |
| T. Dusautoir | Tries | T.Woodcock |
| Penalties | S. Donald | |
| F. Trinh-Duc | Conversions |
| 56% | Possession | 44% |
| 5 | Scrum Wins | 7 |
| 15 | Lineout Wins | 12 |
| 85 | Rucks/Mauls | 60 |
| 0/0 | Tackles/Missed | 0/0 |
| 4 | Turnovers | 5 |
| 9 | Penalties | 8 |
| 0 | Line Breaks | 0 |
| 850 | Pack Weight | 899 |
| 4 | Handling | 3 |
Our Town of Tirau, although small, didn't lack in the festivities either.
Everyone seemed to have flags on their cars or fences.
Shops in Tirau had flags and supported a country.
And one farm on SH1 just south of Tirau won the prize in my heart.
With each game the All Blacks played they added more to their display. And wasn't the only one stopping to take photos.
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