England will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch their flight home, leaving behind a country in thrall to football. You would have thought you might escape the World Cup in New Zealand, but not so. To say they are agog at the prospect of the All Whites beating Paraguay and qualifying for the last 16 is not to exaggerate.
Already Wellington’s mayor, Kerry Prendergast, has called for a tickertape parade in the capital for the heroes (who so far have drawn their two pool games), as and when they conclude their campaign. Auckland’s mayor concurs while the New Zealand RFU chews its fingernails and wonders what impact this could have on the younger generation.
The union has, of course, the perfect weapon to hand with which to respond - rugby’s own World Cup next year, hosted by New Zealand and which the All Blacks will enter as favourites. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that football here will receive a substantial boost from events in South Africa, which will create pressure on the All Blacks not only to win the forthcoming Tri-nations tournament but to win in style.
There may also be something of a public backlash at a new bill going through New Zealand’s parliament at the moment - the Rugby World Cup 2011 Empowering Bill. The idea is to create an authority which will accelerate World Cup-associated activities for the duration of the tournament in September-October next year, including the granting of special liquor licenses which did not go down well initially with the police and over-rides existing legislation.
Meanwhile the auction for the services of Sonny Bill Williams goes on. The former rugby league player, who appeared in midfield for Toulon with Jonny Wilkinson in the Top 14 last season, is due to make a decision by the end of this week with at least four provincial unions said to be in hot pursuit. These include Hawke’s Bay, where England have been winding up this week, Canterbury and North Harbour.
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Two Saracens are hoping to make waves here, one in the short term, the other over a rather longer period. If Brad Barritt has a good game at inside centre against the New Zealand Maori tonight, then his hat is in the ring for one of the most contentious places in England’s senior side: “There are two different schools of thought for inside centre,” Barritt, 23, said. “One is that you should have a big ball-carrying 12 and the other is the Australian approach and using a ball-player. Add in a decent defensive game and I think I can perform both types of role.”
Barritt’s South African antecedents saw him play Super rugby for Natal Sharks before coming to London but England might have tracked him down earlier - he attended an under-19 training camp while considering a degree course at Bath University, where he first encountered players who are now his fellow tourists, Dominic Waldouck and Shane Geraghty.
The other Saracen at large in Napier is Glen Jackson, the fly half who retired after last month’s Guinness Premiership final. He worked his way in England through the early stages of qualification as a referee and will be involved in a referees’ training camp in New Zealand, where he played for Bay of Plenty and, indeed, for the Maori against England in 2003, kicking three penalty goals.
On a lighter note, Aaron Smith, the Maori scrum half, was displaying his other skills to, and even on, team-mates this week: Smith is a barber (he would probably prefer to be known as a hair stylist) and was at work with the scissors for the benefit of TV cameras: “Well, we’ve got to do something to attract attention with all the football’s that’s going on,” a New Zealand official muttered.