‘Losing’ the cup in 1999 was a national disaster, but this time round New Zealanders are a lot calmer ... well, a bit calmer, writes Jeni Porter.
Kiwis now put sex before rugby

So Tom Keneally thinks Kiwis would prefer rugby union to sex. And why not? According to Durex’s global surveys, Kiwis have sex often enough that they could put rugby first and still come out ahead of Aussies.

But seriously - and, at this stage of the World Cup, this is serious - how much does it matter to the national psyche if the All Blacks kill Bill?

A lot - but maybe not quite as much as losing last time. Yes, that’s how Kiwis describe the last campaign: they "lost", even though they never got to the final and lost in the play-off for third.

Then-coach John Hart knew the mood would be ugly but he wasn’t prepared for the treatment he got the day after arriving home at a race meeting in Christchurch.

"They booed the horse and someone spat at me," says Hart, conceding there probably are Kiwis who rate rugby over sex and he might have met one or two.

"There’s no doubt we get too wound up about our rugby. There’s no doubt it’s very important but almost too important . . . It becomes a barometer for how people feel, which is crazy."

Professionalism, Hart thinks has raised expectations, especially as the $NZ200,000 to $NZ300,000 ($175,000 to $260,000) the players earn is quite high by New Zealand standards.

The fervour started in 1905 when the Kiwis swept through Britain thrashing the home unions with a style of running rugby that took the empire by surprise. For decades afterwards, New Zealanders stood proud on the world stage thanks to the dominance of their All Blacks.

Television sports show host Ric Salizzo says that "in the past New Zealand has always felt it was our divine right [to be world champions]. But this year . . . we are a bit more realistic".

Well, everyone except the NZ Rugby Union, which says on its website that although the All Blacks have won only one World Cup "so far", it’s "no real indication of our ongoing strength".

Kiwis have done a lot of growing up since the "horrible, emotionally distraught" reaction to 1999’s failure, Salizzo says. There’s been much less hype this cup - the coverage is more low-key and the marketing machine is on cruise control rather than overdrive, at it was four years ago when the All Blacks flew off to Heathrow in a 747 with an 11-metre high image of their front row painted on its nose.

Salizzo has held off planning broadcasts of his show, Sports Cafe, live from Sydney for the semi-finals and final "because it would seem too presumptuous".

But some Kiwis think the hype is still way over the top. Sue Kedgley, a Greens MP, for one. "It’s a huge marketing and advertising promotion," she says.

"I look forward to the day when we get the same sort of focus on women’s sports like netball."

Kedgley says winning the World Cup is "obviously important to the male psyche". Yet, she’s not sure rugby has the same hold as it did when, as a feminist in the 1970s, she joked that every Kiwi girl wanted to marry an All Black (and her twin sister did).

Kedgley has seen the changes. Her 13-year-old son Zac, like his mates at a private school in Wellington, loves soccer. "Before the World Cup he said he wasn’t interested in rugby at all but he’s got slightly caught up," she says.

Former All Black Andy Haden thinks there’s much less of an obsession about rugby than when he was playing 25 years ago. "I can remember a couple of months ago when we all felt like netballers, and if a New Zealand race horse wins the Melbourne Cup we’ll all be racing freaks," he notes.

And they were sailing freaks until a crew of Kiwis won the America’s Cup for the Swiss.

But Haden thinks the Kiwi crowds are much less forgiving in the professional era. "In our day, there was reason to excuse someone who had a few too many beers and fell over in a park but now there’s no tolerance," he says.

As for Keneally’s suggestion, Haden thinks that sounds like "the comments of a celibate".

*Jeni Porter has been in Sydney working for the Herald for 14 years - but still wears black to watch rugby.