In a bar full of frenchmen, in the heart of Siena, we watched our boys become world champions. After 80 minutes our french friends quietly left as we watched Captain McCaw lift the trophy. It was a special moment. Well done.
And to Kiwis everywhere, enjoy the celebrations.
I think the best way to sum up the game today is with a very literal translation of what the Italian newspaper La Repubblica had to say about it:
“The New Zealand beat Australia 20-6 dominating from start to finish. Next Sunday in Auckland, they challenge for the title with the young cockerels, as 24 years ago, but the result is obvious in appearance.
The game ends with Richard Kahui flying from another part of the field and diving, he grasps the poor Quade Cooper, flinging him off the field. It’s the latest and exemplary image of meeting that consecrates Richie McCaw’s New Zealand, a perfect war machine that blows away the young and confused Australia.
The All Blacks beat hollow (20-6) in a match which from the first second of the game, the monstrous aggression of the hosts and was never really in question, with the kangaroos subjugated on each meeting point. Sunday’s final is with France, but it is a meeting apparently from the result a foregone conclusion.”
We spent ninety minutes this morning sitting behind some very nervous frenchmen. They had arrived at La Birerra in Siena to watch the first RWC semi-final and went from ecstacy when the Welsh captain was sent off to despair when Wales had a chance to win the game in the last few minutes.
Or, in their words – from “allez, allez, allez” to “sacrebleu” and back again.
It’s the business end of the Rugby World Cup and, even in this distant corner of Tuscany, we are feeling the excitement. And we’ll be up early again this coming weekend and heading into Siena to watch the quarter finals and support the All Blacks.
To show our support for the All Blacks, for the next two weeks Toscanakiwi is going black. Well parts of it anyway.
Go the All Blacks.
toscanakiwi 