All Blacks off to winning start at home

New Zealand brace for rugby's showpiece event.

AUCKLAND:

The All Blacks got the seventh rugby World Cup off to a winning start, defeating Tonga 41-10 in front of a capacity 60,000 crowd at Eden Park.

It was not an entirely convincing opener from the New Zealanders despite the lop-sided scoreline, but captain Richie McCaw said it had been a good enough way to open their campaign to win the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time in 24 years.

Garnering a bonus point for scoring more than four tries, the win brought roars and screams of delight from tens of thousands of fans who had converged during the day on Auckland's picturesque harbour waterfront.

The match was preceded by a glittering 30-minute opening ceremony which celebrating the country's Maori heritage and unrivalled rugby pedigree

Then Bernard Lapasset, the French chairman of the International Rugby Board officially declared the tournament open.

"New Zealand will be an exceptional host of the tournament which the fans will be proud of," said Lapasset.

Behind the festivity there was no denying the focus was on the pressure facing the All Blacks playing on home soil and plagued by a history of World Cup flops. Their trophy cabinet is packed with silverware from successful Bledisloe Cup, Tri-Nations and other campaigns at home and abroad but it has not seen the prize that trumps them all - the Webb Ellis Cup - since 1987.

"The World Cup is the biggest stage and you want to prove yourself on that," said All Blacks captain McCaw, reflecting on the heartache of repeated failures. "I've been involved in two where we didn't achieve what we were after and the shock is at the back of your mind." New Zealand have been looking forward to the celebrations after a year of tragedy when deadly earthquakes shattered the second largest city Christchurch and 29 people were killed in a mining disaster.





Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2011.