From the touchline

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

The number

722 - Senior male players in Georgia qualified to play for the national team.

He said it

"Everyone is stinging to get back out there and play. The good thing about this tournament is that we're still in it. It's just going to be a harder path now."
- Australian fly half Quade Cooper on the Wallabies' desire to get back on the horse after the loss to Ireland

Let's hear it for the Irish fans

The Irish really know how to party. Two hours before kick off in the Ireland-Australia match at Eden Park, a crowd of about 500 green-clad, green-painted fans congregated outside a bar in Auckland's Dominion Road, a 10-minute walk from what turned out to be the "field of dreams".

A lone bouncer was keeping patron numbers - 90 per cent Irish, with the odd gold of Australia - to an acceptable level while a throng of Irish partied outside the bar.

About 100m away, an Irish pub was bulging upstairs, downstairs and out on the balcony.

There was another massed green army outside a licensed bottle shop, which was doing a roaring trade in beer and wine for the masses outside the bar. Also doing a bumper Saturday trade was the fish and chip shop over the road, packed out by hungry Irish fans.

And all this was looked over by just two smiling policemen. A normal Auckland Saturday night, presumably, is not as much fun.

The raucous green horde then made their way through suburban streets to Eden Park and a famous victory.

It was even louder as they made their way out more than two hours later, no doubt heading to the same bars and others dotted around suburban Dominion Road.

Dry humour (Part 2)

Dave Pearson might have to pay for laundering his shirts himself.

The English referee was overheard saying, “And you’ll be getting my cleaning bill” to USA captain Todd Clever, after he was accidentally knocked over when Clever tried to join a ruck in the rain-sodden clash between USA and Russia at Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth.

But Clever has no intentions of picking up the tab.

“I’m definitely leaving (New Plymouth) without paying that bill. Without a doubt,” Clever said on Sunday, beaming. “None of my per diem, the small amount that I’m earning, is going towards that laundry.”

So Todd's not just a beefy, pony-tailed rugby player. He knows a bit of Latin, too.

Dubliner's Facebook wit

As Irish fans partied hard and late into the Auckland night, their compatriots around the world celebrated with customary wit.

One wag mimicked a memorable Norwegian TV commentator who got carried away with his country's football victory over England in the early 1980s, chanting "vi har slått dem alle sammen" (we have beaten them all) before taunting a roll call of famous English people. Winston Churchill, Maggie Thatcher and Lady Diana all got a mention from the excitable Scandinavian.

Shortly after Ireland sealed their 15-6 win over the Wallabies at Eden Park, the jubilant Dubliner posted on his Facebook page:  "Dame Edna Everage, Rolf Harris, Michael Hutchence, Don Bradman, Olivia Newton-John, Banjo Patterson, Phar Lap, vi har slått dem alle sammen, vi har slått dem alle sammen. Julia Gillard, can you hear me? Julia Gillard ... your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"

The original, which followed Norway's 2-1 victory against England in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo on 9 September 1981, is well worth repeating.

It ran: "Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, vi har slått dem alle sammen, vi har slått dem alle sammen. Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher ... your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!"

Little known facts

Inglewood, where the USA trained on Sunday, is a picturesque little town about 15km outside New Plymouth.

And arguably one of its favourite citizens is former All Black scrum half Dave Loveridge, who for years in the 1970s was understudy to a son of Northland, Syd Going, but eventually came into his own as a fine exponent of the scrum half skills.

While in Taranaki, the big dairy factory town of Hawera, whose high school pupils turned out to salute the USA team on their way from Whanganui to New Plymouth, is the birthplace of evergreen All Blacks outside centre Conrad Smith.

A Kiwi fan who presented an old Murrayfield mini football for Scotland's Chris Paterson to sign at an open training session in Lower Hutt on Sunday said he had watched Scotland play "many, many years ago" when he visited the country, before helpfully adding: "and yours is the only face here today I can remember".

The 33-year-old, who is playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup, laughingly blamed his longevity rather than an unforgettable face: "That's probably because I'm the oldest," he conceded.

Hell of a haka

Visitors to Rugby World Cup 2011 could be forgiven for thinking New Zealanders learn to walk about the same time they learn the haka, so many have been performed in the first fortnight of the tournament.

But just like the fabled kangaroos that hop down the main streets of Australian cities, impromptu hakas do not spring up out of nowhere on every corner. Or do they?

A couple of rugby news service hacks sitting in a cafe at the big shopping centre at Manakua City, 20km south of Auckland, had their coffee break interrupted by a group of teenagers who launched into a loud and vigorous haka in the food court, much to the shock, then surprise, then delight of the shoppers, many of whom were tourists who immediately started flashing away with their phone cameras.

Security staff were not so impressed. They came from everywhere to march the teenagers out of the centre, though they did let them finish their haka.

The guards were later seen in animated discussion with several shoppers who had come to the defence of the teens and their haka.

Enquiries revealed the haka performers were guilty of "disturbing the peace in a public place" but the shoppers apparently won the day and the teens were let off with a warning.