~Smiles~ Unlimited!!

Less than 24 Hours remain until the Rugby World Cup 2007…The sixth global tournament starts in France this Saturday.. World Cup favourite New Zealand signified serious intentions for its opening match by choosing practically its best team to meet Italy at Stade Velodrome on Saturday. After winning the inaugural tournament on home soil in 1987, New Zealand has reached the final only once since - in 1995 when it narrowly lost to host South Africa. The All Blacks are looking to break a 20-year drought at the Rugby World Cup.

The Rugby World Cup first took place in 1987 and takes place every 4 years. The only nation ever to win the cup more than once is Australia. The Webb Ellis cup is the prize given to the winner of the World Cup and is named after the man credited for creating the game of rugby. The trophy was chosen in the World Cup of 1987. It is 38 centimeters tall and is silver gilded in gold. The trophy is kept in the museum of Rugby in England.

The International Rugby Union World Cup (RWC) is right now the one of the world’s top three sporting competitions (The Soccer World Cup and The Olympics being the other two). The 2007 World Cup will be broadcast to 3.7 Billion households and 1.8 million match tickets will be sold.

Winning Nations of The World Cup:
1987 - New Zealand (Hosts)
1991 - Australia
1995 - South Africa (Hosts)
1999 - Australia
2003 - England
2007 - Awarded on the 21st of October 2007

All Blacks performing Haka

The Haka is a traditional dance native to New Zealand’s Maori people performed by the All Blacks before every rugby match. It is traditionally a war dance used by the native Maori before charging into battle. The All Blacks perform two kind of Haka, the original “Ka Mate” and most recently a modern version called the “Kapa O Pango”. The Haka is a source of energy for the All Blacks, it is a very aggressive dance, it pumps up the players mentally and builds up their confidence before a game, as well as intimidating the opposing side at the same time.

Results since England won the last Rugby World Cup dictate that most pundits have to choose the All Blacks as the side to beat. All Blacks have won the Tri-Nations and Bledisole Cup, their game might not be perfect but it is certainly in a good shape.
Anu is looking forward for the games and so am I, Anu has put an alarm in his clock to watch the opening ceremony at 6.00am NZT. Some colleagues of mine have booked their entire year’s annual leave for this tournament.. 48 games, 3840 minutes, 64 hours of… RUGBY!! May the best team win....