New Zealanders suffered bewilderment, then despair on Saturday when their highly rated All Blacks were beaten 22-10 by Australia in the first semifinal of the Rugby World Cup.
Kiwis had expressed overwhelming confidence before the match that their national team would cast off the disappointments of its last three World Cups to reach and win next weekend’s final.
New Zealand were beaten by France in the semifinals of the 1999 World Cup, by South Africa in the final of the 1995 Cup and by Australia in the semis in 1991.
They have won the William Webb Ellis Trophy only once, when the Cup was first contested in New Zealand and Australia 16 years ago.
Newspaper headlines had trumpeted before Saturday’s match that the only issue in doubt was the All Blacks’ winning margin.
Respected commentators had predicted New Zealand victories by 20 points and more.
The Australians had suffered a barrage of public and media criticism in the leadup to the match while the All Blacks, after a 29-9 quarterfinal win over the Springboks, had only solidified pre-tournament favouritism.
The crisis of confidence the Kiwis had experienced before the quarterfinals, when 70% of bets placed with the New Zealand state betting agency went on South Africa, had evaporated in the intervening seven days.
The New Zealand Totalisator Agency Board had made the All Blacks prohibitive favourites as more than 95% of all investments were placed on New Zealand.
Radio talk-show callers in the days leading up to match rallied unanimously behind New Zealand and vied for the chance to express their confidence in ultimate All Black victory.
Television and radio commentators struck a subdued note immediately after the match, praising Australia’s gallant performance and rueing and error-ridden All Black performance.
At the same time, they urged All Blacks supporters to avoid the strident reaction which followed New Zealand’s 1999 Cup loss.
On that occasion, criticism of the New Zealand team and particularly coach John Hart reached a level of vehemence never previously seen in New Zealand.
A prominent rugby magazine ran a front-page picture of Hart under a one-word headline: ”Guilty.”
When Hart travelled to the South Island city of Christchurch immediately after the Cup to watch his horse, Holmes DG, contest in a major harness racing event, he was spat at by spectators.
The horse, which would possibly have started favourite, drifted in the betting and was booed throughout the race.
Confidence of All Black Cup success was so great that draft plans had been prepared for a victory parade in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. The plans were scrapped but a prominent broadcaster called for the parade to go ahead to allow New Zealanders to throw refuse at the team.
Throughout New Zealand, in which more than 1,6-million of the four million population were glued to television sets throughout the match, the first reaction to the All Blacks loss was one of disbelief.
Bars, which had been packed for a game which started at 10pm, quickly emptied as dejected fans lost their festive spirit.
The possibility exists of a reaction even more bitter than in 1999 because the current All Blacks coach John Mitchell and his captain Reuben Thorne are already far from popular with many New Zealand fans.
Mitchell’s taciturn manner and Thorne’s indifferent form had already been bones of contention before the Cup began. — Sapa-AP