Ah back to NZ for the Aus-USA game, or as I like to call it AUSA. USA fans were out in full force, mostly because they were playing Australia. Kiwis have a friendly distaste for Australia when it comes to sports. Therefore, any team playing Australia gets immediate support from the Kiwi folk. I was bold enough to wear my USA shirt on the plane from Melbourne to Wellington and even made myself some new expat American friends.
For some reason (AFL ahem), Melbourne doesn't get into rugby, so I can wear All Blacks gear around or USA gear and no one gets riled up. In fact, when the Kiwis play Aus in rugby, there are actually more All Blacks fans than there are Wallaby fans. It actually makes me feel the need to cheer on the Wallabies. To this regard, one player on the Wallabies has become public enemy #1 for all Kiwis. He gets booed every time he touches the ball. I began to feel for this fellow and it was visible how the booing and ridiculing affected his game.
His previous battles with the Kiwis have all went well. Reds beat the Crusaders, Wallabies won the Tri-Nations tournament, but when it came to the RWC, this player, Quade Cooper just started to go flat. He remains one of my favorite players though. One of my favorite characteristics of Quade is his hula dance before kicking the ball. He is of Maori descent, so the dance may actually be meaningful. However, many of the kickers have little dances they do before kicking. Johnny Wilkinson of England clasps his hands and dances like he has to pee. This dance won England the RWC in 2003. Whatever works, I say! One of the highlights of AUSA was a streaker. For some reason I am very amused by streakers. Some people find it to be a sign of exhibitionism, but I consider it a sign of humor, especially when the score starts getting lopsided, as it did during AUSA. Proudly the USA did stay in the game for the first 20-30 min, but then Aus skill took center stage.
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