From the Touchline

A lighter look at what is happening at Rugby World Cup 2011.

The numbers

99 - Richie McCaw won his 99th Test cap and his next appearance could make him the first All Black to reach the milestone of 100.

97 - Dan Carter's points at Rugby World Cups. Needs three more to join Grant Fox (170) and Andrew Mehrtens (165) as All Blacks to top the ton at the World Cup.

2 - Israel Dagg and Richard Kahui became the 11th and 12th All Blacks to score two tries on their World Cup debuts. The other 10 include: current squad member Conrad Smith; John Kirwan, coach of their next opponents Japan; captain of the 1987 World Cup-winning team, David Kirk; and the legendary Jonah Lomu.

He said it

"I think the girls were pretty rapt about that actually. Obviously the cameras zoomed in on him but obviously we didn't take much notice."
- New Zealand scrum half Piri Weepu didn't take much notice of teammate and All Black pin-up Sonny Bill Williams having to strip off his shirt on the field after it was ripped during the match, but it seems a lot of other people did.

Best seat in the house is outside

TV crews would have paid good money to get his view, and his backyard is large enough to hold a crowd, but Jack Gernhoefer likes to keep what he reckons is “the best seat in the house” for himself and wife Esther.

From his house the 80-year-old former South Taranaki second row overlooks the western try line at Stadium Taranaki. He can watch every match by just leaning on his fence, with Mt Taranaki as a spectacular backdrop.

Gernhoefer was scrubbing his back fence on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s clash between Ireland and USA and paused to reflect on his good fortune.

“It’s the best seat in the house. We had the Irish TV guys broadcast from here last year (when the All Blacks beat Ireland 66-28) and they got wine and cheese," he said.

"They wanted to set up their live broadcast from here, with the commentators, but we had to say no.”

His wife Esther shares his love of the stadium.

“We’re the eyes and ears of the stadium. We keep an eye on the place and make sure nobody is sneaking around,” she said.

Ladies first

Media representatives who have gathered in Wellington for the Rugby World Cup were treated to a function at Te Papa national museum by various representatives of the Wellington region keen to extol the virtues of “the coolest little capital of the world” and its surrounding areas.

The powhiri welcome was similar to that extended to all visiting teams, with a Maori warrior issuing a fearsome challenge before leading the visitors in to where others were waiting to poke their tongues out and do those scary eyes.

Being sensible sports reporters rather than war correspondents, they sent all the women in first to make sure it was safe.

The softer side

The impressive Romanian performance against Scotland reinforced the notion that the minnows of world rugby are slowly getting it all together - and if the passion the Europeans and Latins bring to the game continues to soften its image then more power to them, many would say.

So if rugby wants to show it's not all big blokes and machismo then a replay of the Romanian coaches enjoying a congratulatory kiss after their team scored a try just before half-time against Scotland won't hurt the image at all.

Keep your shirt on

Sonny Bill Williams sent the pulses racing in more ways than one in helping New Zealand to a winning start against Tonga at Eden Park on Friday night.

The strapping 108kg centre set up play superbly with his line-breaking running game, but also turned heads with a wardrobe malfunction.

He emerged from a Tongan tackle with the right sleeve of his tight-fitting black shirt hanging by a thread. Williams tore the sleeve further to reveal a bulging tattooed bicep, before taking his shirt off and milking the attention by slowly pulling on a replacement.

Williams joked that he had torn the sleeve to get semi-naked in the middle of Eden Park, but his second explanation was more accurate. "I think one of the Tongan guys tried to rip my head off and he managed to rip my shirt off instead," the 26-year-old joked.