Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
from Photographers Blog:
Climbing Eden Park
By Bogdan Cristel
After 40 hours of flying Bucharest - Amsterdam - Beijing - Auckland, I arrived in New Zealand; my first time in the Southern Hemisphere.
The first nice surprise here was that both my check-in pieces of luggage arrived on the same flight (I expected it to take a week and to be on the safe side packed a toothbrush in my hand luggage).
After a day of adjustment, with serious jet-leg (New Zealand is 9 hours ahead of Romania), slowly the Rugby World Cup started for me.
The first big assignment was the RWC opening ceremony and the first match. Reuters had three photographers covering it – Jacky Naegelen, Nigel Marple and me. When Tim Wimborne, our photo editor, asked if I wanted to be in an elevated position for the opening ceremony, I said yes without any thought. I had no idea what it meant.
Organizers held a dress rehearsal two days before the opening ceremony giving photographers a chance to check shooting angles and identify highlights. For me it was different – I was one of four photographers shooting from the stadium roof.
We were all equipped with harnesses and safety cables to attach working gear. All our equipment, about 20kg (44 pounds), was carried to the roof in a box, secured with rope, to our shooting position lest it fall on any spectator below.
Cricket World Cup — live
Join us for coverage of the revamped Cricket World Cup on the subcontinent. Follow all the drama here with regular posts and some of the best photographs around. Comments welcome!
Congratulation to all Indians! We have won the World Cup! I am overwhelmed by the outstanding performance of our team where Dhoni acted as an ideal captain and a true leader.But I am thoroughly disappointed by the decision made by the governing bodies where MS Dhoni was recognized as Man of the Match and Gautam Gambhir was completel…y ignored by everyone out there.He did not get individual recognition for a single moment.Where as the fact is if India won today,she won because of the outstanding and consistent performance of Gautam Gambhir.He was the one who layed the foundation on which India could make a history again.MS Dhoni could not have achieved it all alone.He made the strongest partnership with Dhoni and Virat.He was the one who held on the wickets and stuck on to the ground.When 2 giant and most reliable players got out unexpectedly, we all lost hopes and that time the team needed will power, motivation,Gambhir stepped in the groung in that tensed situation where he kept his cool, calmly but steadily performing and leading India closer to its goal.He took some calculated risk and gave some wonderful shots.I am highly disappointed with such an a decision.Dhoni was undoubtedly brilliant today but the recognition should have been shared between the two champions!
England v Australia, Twenty20 final — live
We’re blogging from the final of the World Twenty-20 cricket in the West Indies, with the clash between England and Australia building towards a climax.
England are doing surprisingly well, but who would write off Australia after their semi-final comeback against Pakistan? Stay tuned … and remember, comments are extremely welcome…
A cricket blog seems out of place amongst all the football blogs . I make this point because a radio programme was talking to a tennis star AND WAS SUDDENLY ASKING THE TENNIS STAR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WORLD CUP FOOTBALL .Possibly i am wrong about that because i was trying to do other jobs and was not listening attentively enough to the radio .Please note that sports stars are often foreign and they may be able to cope with English language using words connected with their own particular sport. Asking the sports star questions about another sport is just “not on ” The star is giving up his or her time and to maintain star standard in journalism as well , i think it far better to stick to questions about that stars particular sport . Mixing a cricket report in with many footabll blogs might lead other interviewers to try “steering off “the main reason why the sports star has been chosen to give up his or her time ie the sports star is most likely expecting to be asked to talk about his/her own sport .Why give the sports star more hastle? Why give me this hastle ? I like headings and think they are important in life/There is no heading really to indicate the posts should be all about football so no mistake has been made but nevertheless it seemed important to make this point here ie a sports person is probably notdesirous of wasting time That sportsperson might consider it a waste of time if he or she is asked a question about another sport perhaps .
Italy fight haka with their very own rugby tenor
How about this for a job swap. Former Italy rugby international Denis Dallan will sing the national anthem before the Azzurri’s test with New Zealand at Milan’s San Siro on Saturday.
Dallan, who picked up 42 caps between 1999 and 2007, fancies himself as a tenor and will boom out what has to be one of the world’s most upbeat national anthems to 80,000 people.
It’s the biggest rugby crowd ever in Italy and the beefy 31-year-old is up against the angelic Elizabeth Marvelly singing the New Zealand song before the All Blacks do their haka.
Don’t get nervous Denis. Next stop, La Scala.
PHOTO: Italy’s left wing Denis Dallan (L) is tackled by Geordan Murphy of Ireland during their Six Nations match at the Flaminio Stadium in Rome February 22, 2003. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito
All Blacks arrive without the aura
Roughly once a decade throughout the 20th century, a group of South Seas islanders in the guise of the New Zealand All Blacks would invade Europe to teach the old world the ways of the new.
There were reverses, notably at the hands of Wales in 1905, 1935 and 1953, three of the first four games between the two small rugby-mad nations. But the win-loss ratio remained overwhelmingly in favour of the All Blacks, whose distinctive all-black uniform and pre-match haka (Maori war dance) enhanced their special aura.
Familiarity, the curse of modern sport with its perpetually swelling fixture lists, has inevitably diluted the appeal of the All Blacks who now visit Europe once a year along with the other southern hemisphere nations.
There are, though, more fundamental reasons for querying a common assumption that the All Blacks are the once and future kings of world rugby.
Their record against European opposition is still undeniably impressive. Under head coach Graham Henry, New Zealand have won 16 times in Europe and lost just once since 2004.
That defeat, though, is more significant than all the wins put together.
Dismissed on the official All Blacks website as a “blemish”, the 20-18 Cardiff loss to France in the 2007 World Cup quarter-finals represents the earliest exit for New Zealand at the quadrennial tournament.
More New Zealanders whose aura has slipped somewhat… http://www.conchords.co.nz/
Dark days for the southern hemisphere.
A bunch of fives from Jonah Lomu
I have big hands and am 6-ft 4-ins. I can palm a basketball, and dunk it — just about. It’s not often meeting athletes I feel weedy.
Until the All Blacks and Wallabies came to town.
Last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup test in Tokyo between the hulking trans-Tasman rivals prompted me to dust down the Dunlop Green Flash and renew my lapsed gym membership. For that I thank them.
I was less happy at being winded by All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and having the bones in my right hand crushed by Jonah Lomu when I interviewed him ahead of his comeback to the game later this month.
McCaw believed he had “rumbled” me when I asked about his blocked nose after a news conference.
“Not swine flu or anything is it?”
“No, mate, just a broken nose.”
Rugby’s hard-but-fair reputation has always been a myth
Colin Meads, regarded by most New Zealanders as the greatest All Black of them all, delivers a diverting after-dinner speech in a self-deprecating “aw shucks” hill farmer’s style with a bottle of beer firmly clutched in a large fist.
It is only after the laughter subsides that the listener realises with a twinge of unease that the majority of the anecdotes involve Meads using one or both of his large fists to thump a member of the opposition. Illegal then and illegal now, it’s worth recalling now amid all the hot air spouted over the Harlequins fake blood scandal.
The saga of a Harlequins winger biting on a fake blood capsule in order to get a goal-kicking replacement on to the field in a Heineken Cup quarter-final has gripped the English media.
It follows revelations that young men who happen to play rugby for a living can be tempted by recreational drugs (see the Justin Harrison story), not unlike their contemporaries in other walks of life.
A mystifying aspect of the outrage is the underlying assumption that rugby players inhabit a universe where men play hard but fair adhering to the stern dictates of an unspoken code.
Which is, and has always been, nonsense.
Hard, certainly. Fair? Hardly.
Tri-Nations waves goodbye to tedious kick-and-chase
Australia’s shock win over South Africa in Saturday’s Tri-Nations breathed new life into a series that was in real danger of fizzling out.
The Wallabies’ 21-6 win not only stalled South Africa’s seemingly unstoppable march to this year’s title but also provided some much needed entertainment.
Most of the previous matches in this year’s series had been reduced to a glorified kicking contest with all three teams resorting to the same tedious kick and chase tactics normally reserved for the nothern hemisphere teams.
In the seven games played by the southern hemisphere giants this series, only once has a team managed to scored four tries to earn a bonus point.
That was a week ago when South Africa beat a woeful Australia 32-25 in Perth, a result the world champions a commanding nine-point lead in the standings.
But just when everything seemed to be over, the combination of South Africa’s comfortable position at the top of the table and Australia’s desperation after losing four on the trot, helped produce a classic match on Saturday.
much credit can go to the ref who applied the rules without bias which is the 1st time it has happened in a longtime.
Is Italy’s rugby trip south the ultimate tour too far?
The ‘tour too far’ cliché is often wheeled out by rugby pundits when an outgunned northern hemisphere side travels south to take on Tri-Nations powers.
But it seems especially appropriate this year after the International Rugby Board (IRB) cooked up the ultimate mismatched series by handing Italy tests against Australia in Canberra and Melbourne on June 13 and 20 and a meeting with New Zealand in Christchurch on June 27.
Maybe the Azzurri can put a dismal Six Nations behind them and give the Wallabies and All Blacks a run for their money. But I don’t think that is likely even if they meet second-string sides and coach Nick Mallett seems to share the pessimism.
“It’s a hell of a tough tour in anyone’s book,” the former Springbok boss told New Zealand’s Sunday News.
“Even if I was coaching South Africa and had to play Australia and New Zealand over three consecutive Saturdays, I wouldn’t be happy with a tour like that. If we had an opportunity this year, like Wales and Ireland, to play USA and Canada, it would have been the perfect tour for Italy. But we’re on this schedule and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The IRB’s logic would seem to be that the Azzurri must face better teams if they are to continue developing. But they already do that in the Six Nations. Giving them impossible fixtures outside the competition just risks ruining the team’s self belief by setting up a seemingly unending sequence of defeats.
Italy have yet to meet a lower ranked nation since Mallett took over after the 2007 World Cup and have won just two tests as a consequence, against Scotland and Argentina last year. The poor run looks unlikely to end soon as they are scheduled to play higher ranked sides up to the 2011 World Cup.
Don’t forget how close the italians came to toppling the wallabies on their last two meetings in rome and padova. Mallet will tell the press they are going to get thrashed and have no hope but will secretly fancy his chances. Anyway with the British sides occupied on the Lions tour there is simply noone else who can tour australia and new zealand besides italy and france.
Indian cricket fans are surely the world’s most demanding
India have just won their first test series on New Zealand soil in 41 years after rain spoilt their chances of winning the third and final test at the Basin Reserve.
The victory was their third successive test series win since defeating top-ranked Australia in November.
Tons and tons of runs have been scored by India in that time, yet some fans are keen to keep their boys on their toes even when things are going so well.
The good people at i3j3Cricket feel India wasted a chance to win the Basin Reserve test by batting on needlessly. Good luck in your pursuit of cricket perfection, guys.
