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Memoirs of a Kiwi

Setting the scene: No, that's not Jake

After all the media reports, player interviews, match analysis and television replays following New Zealand's shock exit from the 2007 Rugby World Cup, one fan survives the heartache and recollects what happened on that fateful Saturday night in Cardiff.

Meet Jake Mckee, a New Zealander living in the seaside city of Brighton, about one hour or so outside of London by train.

Jake is a builder by trade and has been living in the United Kingdom for some time now, and like so many of the ex-pat Kiwis residing outside of New Zealand - is still a die-hard All Blacks supporter.

Having known Jake for nearly ten years, I have come to learn the passion and pride of supporting the All Blacks from him and his family better than anyone.

The Mckee brothers try to make a trip together whenever they can to watch their country play when on tour of Europe, and the Rugby World Cup was no exception.

After witnessing their side put in a satisfactory performance against Scotland at Murrayfield a fortnight ago, the next stop was Wales for the quarter-final showdown against tournament hosts France.

The Mckee brothers headed to a southern theme sports pub to get a taste of things to come before their match kicked off later that evening. The taste included a few beers and the thrilling quarter-final match on show between England and Australia.

"Yeah, we started getting into the beers and the atmosphere was awesome," said Jake.

"We went to this Walkabout-like pub, and there were hundreds of Kiwis, a few Frenchies, Irish and some Englishmen - all shouting for England to beat Australia!

"The funny thing was all the New Zealand supporters were also screaming: "C'mon England!"

"It was hilarious, I never thought I would be cheering for the Poms!"

With England recording a shock 12-10 win over the Wallabies - Jake said the Kiwi and English supporters were already having a dig at each other on who would beat who in the semi-final... if they only knew.

It was around this time that I had received a surprise call from Mckee and his bros. giving me a rundown of their surroundings leading up to his game.

I was told of the "awesome" atmosphere out on the streets and how the city of Cardiff was filled with New Zealand and French supporters jumping around in high spirits.

"The Frenchies were all good fun," said Jake.

"There was no agro (aggression) going on - there never really is - and everyone was just having a good time.

"The streets were filled with television crews interviewing everyone that walked past.

"There were mascots, people whistling and fans singing the national anthem - the usual stuff that takes place before a rugby match."

Jake and his brothers arrived at the game about 45 minutes before kick-off and were in awe of the stadium that would be hosting his country's fans and the Sébastien Chabal lookalikes backing the French.

The Millennium Stadium can accommodate 74,500 people and I was informed not one empty seat could be seen.

It appears the festivities and good sportsmanship outside the stadium walls were carried in through the entrance gates as the New Zealand and French fans mingled and tried to deafen each other with their team songs.

"It was wicked," recalls Jake.

"We had good seats located parallel to France's tryline and the stadium was nice and bright.

"When the boys (the All Blacks) came out, the crowd just erupted even more as everyone cheered them on.

"It was just amazing. And with the half-time score at 13-3, we were like 'whoo-hoo!' and screaming 'C'mon, c'mon!"

Unfortunatelly for the Mckees and the rest of New Zealand, their celebrations were short lived as the All Blacks failed to hang on to that handsome lead, eventually losing 18-20.

A cruel blow for any New Zealand supporter that made the trip to Cardiff expecting a win, but an overwhelming victory for any French fan that made the same journey expecting a different result to the tournament favourites.

When asked what went wrong, Jake - like the rest of the rugby-mad New Zealand nation - struggled to find the answer.

"I think maybe our boys were a bit arrogant, and perhaps thought the game was already in the bag," said a disgruntled Jake.

"We couldn't really see the big screen, so we struggled to see where we went wrong in the replays.

"It's just disappointing that every World Cup we go to it's the same old thing: 'All Blacks are the favourites'. But we never pull it off and now have to wait another four more years.

"It's horrible, we haven't won since 1987!

"And this is the second World Cup that the Frenchies have done us in - everyone said 'Imagine if they (France) could repeat 1999', but nobody believed it.

"It's just not on."

But France did the impossible yet again and came from behind to win. I asked Jake at which point of the game did he think it was game-over for his national team.

"Well, it first hit us when we ran out of beer!," joked Mckee.

"Every bar we went to, they ran out of beer, out of ice - it was crazy.

"Actually, thinking about it now - I can't really remember much of the game (go figure!). But probably with ten minutes to go we were panicking.

"Then there was six minutes left on the stadium clock, and we were bashing our way up from France's 22, crashing forward and putting loads of phases together - only to lose the ball inches from the tryline.

"We were thinking, 'This isn't like the All Blacks!'

"For the last remaining minutes I was thinking, 'We're gonna do it. Someone's going to pull it out of the bag just like they always do'.

"But it didn't happen, it just didn't happen."

So with their beloved All Blacks out of the Rugby World Cup yet again, the Mckee brothers were left shell-shocked and to make matters worse - they were out of beer.

Jake set the scene of the Millennium Stadium aftermath.

"Well, all the Frenchies left pretty quickly," he said.

"There were still a lot of Kiwis, hundreds of us just feeling disgraced and left sitting with our heads in our hands.

"We probably spent another twenty minutes after the game just sitting there in silence.

"When we eventually left, there were heaps of French supporters about - but it was cool. They weren't giving anyone a hard time and had every reason to celebrate.

"At the end of it, I was joining them trying to sing the France national anthem!

"So everyone was still in good spirits, though I had taken my rugby jersey off and tied it around my waist as soon as I left the stadium.

"But otherwise we had a really good time, but somebody has to lose. It's just a shame it was us."

Asked from a New Zealand supporter's perspective if coach Graham Henry got the treatment he deserved by leaving his post as All Blacks coach, Jake had to think about it for a while.

"I think we've got another big season ahead next year and it will be good to get in someone with new approaches and fresh ideas," said Jake.

In his time Henry had a near perfect record: a clean sweep over the British Lions, a perfect record on European soil, including a Grand Slam tour in 2005, as well as three successful Tri-Nations campaigns.

Yet, as Jake points out, none of that will matter now as Henry failed to bring home the Webb Ellis trophy.

"It's true that he hasn't lost that many matches, but it's our national game and as a Kiwi we expect to win all our games basically. It's tough, but that's the way it is.

"That's probably the whole thing about us New Zealanders. Our fault is that we expect so much of the All Blacks, but they can't always win.

"I guess it just goes to show that all teams are beatable."

Jake and a large posse of New Zealand supporters then went on to drown their sorrows and try figure out where it all went wrong. And in this particular group - nobody pointed their finger at the referee.

Wayne Barnes has not been very popular amongst the New Zealand public after an average performance with the whistle which included that forward pass.

"Most of the people I spoke to blamed the All Blacks themselves," admitted Jake.

"Nobody really blamed the ref and the forward pass, it's part and parcel of the game.

"You can't even point the finger at the coaches. The players are big enough and old enough to look after themselves on the pitch.

"So if they put in a performance like they did, it's nobody else's fault but their own."

By Dave Morris