From the Touchline

A lighter look at Rugby World Cup 2011.

Numbers

19-166 - George North became the youngest try scorer in the history of Rugby World Cup by touching down against Namibia on Monday. The Welshman was 19 years and 166 days old, beating the record by Australia's Joe Roff.

3 - Wales' Scott Williams scored a hat-trick on his RWC debut against Namibia. He became the third youngest player in the competition's history to score three tries in a match, behind Jonah Lomu (NZL) and Gareth Thomas (WAL).

266 - The 266 points conceded by Namibia at RWC 2011 were the second most by any team in a single RWC campaign, beaten only by the 310 points Namibia conceded in 2003.

He said it

"I don't speak to people at the best of times."

- The laconic Scotland coach Andy Robinson on whether he would utilise his connections in the England camp ahead of Saturday's crucial match.

Shear enjoyment

All Black centre Sonny Bill Williams got to know a sheep named in his honour in Waitangi Park, Wellington yesterday (see picture).

But we think Sonny Wool might have been better named Sonny Bill Wooliams. And that it would be fitting if he was put out to graze alongside Richie McCow, the Northland bull calf named after Williams' 100-cap All Blacks captain.

We were here first, Sir

Australia's four-night break in an alpine spa resort brought a change of sleeping arrangements for some of New Zealand’s leading educators.

After the Christchurch earthquake meant they could not the stay in the city, it was decided the team should spend time at the Heritage Hotel, Hanmer Springs, which had already been booked for a national conference of headteachers.

The delegates were accommodated at other establishments in the town,” explained a tourism official. “They were very understanding, although at the time I don’t think they knew it was the Australia team.”

As Wallabies and their WAGs went about their business in the hotel virtually ignored on Tuesday, the one person the teachers wanted to be photographed with was their coach Robbie Deans, who grew up nearby.

Signs of the times

Ireland moved into their Dunedin hotel on Monday and were confronted with the same sign that England had to endure since before the start of the tournament - "Go All Blacks" - in metre-high lettering in 11 windows in the building opposite.

On a side street and five floors up, it is not intended for the general public, who would get vertigo craning their necks.

Just to make sure they do not miss the message, another building facing the hotel had “GSM loves All Blacks” in equally high lettering.

Wigging out

Lower Hutt has been hit by Tongamania ahead of Saturday’s match between the Ikale Tahi and France, and makers of novelty wigs in Tongan red could not be happier.

Hundreds of fans were at Wellington airport to welcome Tonga on Monday and hundreds more attended a community welcome that night.

By Tuesday morning the crowd could be counted in thousands as Tongan expats and local school children wigged out at the team’s open training session at Lower Hutt. There were Tongan dancers, a band and school groups bursting into song as the players tried to focus on lineouts and drills.

Local mayor William 'Ray' Wallace (who’d donned his ancestral kilt for the Scotland open training session) switched to his red mayoral robe to welcome Tonga captain Finau Maka and his team, who had to dodge a determined group of Tongan ladies of a certain age.

One woman had great fun rushing up to players, only to be shooed away politely every time by a security guard, both of them laughing at their private game of tag.

Seeking immortality

The All Blacks may be gunning for a second Webb Ellis Cup, but true immortality in this sports-mad country only comes when you are inducted to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Should the ABs win on 23 October, they can look forward to joining the likes of the 1905 first New Zealand tourists to Britain when the All Black moniker was coined, apparently by an English journalist; 1924 'Invincibles' and the 1987 World Cup-winning teams, as well as the 1945-46 Armed Forces team, known as the Kiwis, as the only rugby sides to be inducted.

Countless All Blacks captains have been inducted alongside the pantheon of Kiwi sport heroes who have won Olympic and world titles or broken world records.

Housed in the majestic Dunedin Railway Station, it is run by former rugby journalist, author and historian Ron Palenski.

Hug an Aussie

With all the talk of New Zealand being unkind to its cousins from across the ditch since their defeat by Ireland, Nelson mayor Aldo Miccio has come up with a novel way to show Australians that Kiwis love them really.

He has designated Wednesday as 'Hug an Aussie Day'. So watch out, all you gold-clad supporters when you turn up in sunny Nelson to support your boys against Russia. You could get mugged for a hug.