Tourney comes down to classic championship
New Zealand’s All Blacks play Australia Saturday, and the stakes are sky-high
If you were scripting the 2015 Rugby World Cup, this is the final you’d dream up: the top-ranked New Zealand All-Blacks against secondranked Australia with the whole world watching.
The sport’s most enduring rivals and two of its most decorated programs on the game’s biggest stage, playing for its most coveted trophy.
It’s like Duke against Kentucky at the end of March Madness, or the Yankees and the Dodgers in the World Series.
It’s like Floyd Mayweather facing Manny Pacquiao, except this time there’ll be hitting.
New Zealand and Australia have played 154 times in their shared rugby history, but for players and supporters involved the intensity never drops off. Ever. When the All-Blacks line up on Sat- urday for the Haka— a pre-game war dance with roots in Maori history — even observers can’t help feeling charged up.
“It shows that rugby is more than what happens on the field,” says Rugby Canada CEO Gareth Rees, the first person to play in four World Cups. “It shows how important this is in these two countries. “It’s an invitation to war.” The marquee matchup closes out a Rugby World Cup organizers are calling the most successful ever. While Fortune magazine points out that U.S. TV audiences remain tiny, Japan’s dismantling of Samoa in group play drew a record 25 million Japanese TV viewers. In Canada, where TSN has shown every match of the tournament, knockout stage games have averaged 204,000 viewers, a fourfold increase over 2011, according to the broadcaster.
But in Australia and New Zealand such year-over-year increases aren’t possible because sports fans there are plugged in to every Rugby World Cup, and even more engaged when the Wallabies and the All-Blacks face off.
The Auckland Marathon starts one hour after the final kicks off, so organizers are setting up a giant screen displaying the game on the race route. Some runners, meanwhile, plan to strap iPads to their backs and stream the game so trailing racers can watch.
At Hemingway’s, the Yorkville restaurant that doubles as a local headquarters for New Zealanders, doors will open at 10 a.m. Saturday and owner Damon Bodnar expect to reach the building’s 450-person ca- pacity quickly.
“Rugby is everything,” says Bodnar, who grew up in Wellington, New Zealand.
“Any time you’re watching the All-Blacks, it’s special. There’s an aura about the All-Blacks. When the Wallabies are on the other side of the field it’s even more special.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Rugby Union has placed a $300,000 bet on the Wallabies and will use the projected windfall to pay player bonuses.
When trans-Tasman neighbours meet, stakes are always high.
“It’s like the U.S.A. and Canada,” says Australian expat Nick Shuttleworth, who moved to Toronto eight years ago. “We’re rivals when it comes to sport and allies when it comes to everything else. We’d like nothing better than to knock them off.”
Saturday will mark the third time this year Australia and New Zealand meet in a World Cup final. In March Australia won the Cricket World Cup over New Zealand, then vanquished the Kiwis again in the netball World Cup in August.
But New Zealand has won105 of154 all-time rugby matches against Australia, and is 4-1-1 in their last six meetings. August 8 in Sydney the Wallabies beat New Zealand 27-19, but a week later the All-Blacks thrashed Australia 41-13 in Auckland. That win served as the final World Cup tune-up for both teams, and also earned the All-Blacks the Bledisloe Cup for winning the annual homeand-home series between the two nations.
That tournament dates back to 1931. In the 2000 final, 110,000 fans packed Stadium Australia in Sydney, and watched as Jonah Lomu’s finalminute try secured a 39-35 All-Blacks win. That game is widely regarded as the best rugby match ever.
Shuttleworth is confident the Wallabies will rebound and claim a World Cup. But he has attended Bledisloe Cup games in person and admits a well-performed Haka will give him shivers even though he’s not playing.
“The atmosphere is ridiculous,” he says. “Obviously (the All-Blacks) look pretty terrifying when they’re doing it.”