Word: zealand
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...country's rugby team, the All Blacks, play a test match against Wales. So special was the event, he was even allowed to break his parents' rule against eating cereal on the carpet in front of the TV. Such is the abandon that manifests in the face of New Zealand's national obsession: the brutal, beautiful game of rugby. "Here," says Winterbottom, "rugby crosses all boundaries. Everyone from five to 85 has a basic knowledge of the game...
...With a population of just over 4 million, New Zealand has long punched above its sporting weight. Over the years, it has spawned the world's best miler (John Walker), one of cricket's greatest fast bowlers (Richard Hadlee) and yachtsmen skilled enough to win the America's Cup twice. While all of these men knew how it felt to compete under a nation's expectation, the All Blacks are a case apart. Failure has never been an option for them. Their hardheaded coach Graham Henry sounds positively Nietzschean when he declares: "The success of our rugby team is important...
Uptight and upset: here are two scenes from the last World Cup, in 2003. Three weeks out, the All Blacks held an open training session in Nelson, atop New Zealand's South Island. As the players turned it on for the 5,000 spectators, TIME's reporter asked squad official Matt McIlraith for a brief interview with the coach, John Mitchell, who was overseeing practice the way a chess master examines the board. While he didn't quite scoff, McIlraith made it clear there was precisely zero chance of the request being granted. Mitchell wasn't feeding the chooks anymore...
...blazer highlighted the absence of color in his face. With dignity, he answered every question, some of them insulting like, "Did you have a game plan tonight?" But he looked and sounded like a man who'd just foreseen the end of the world. Within a month, the New Zealand Rugby Union sacked...
...Blacks aren't without their frailties. Their lineout can let them down and they've been stronger in the centers in the past. While their scrum's good, it's less of a weapon than South Africa's. If it's not to be New Zealand's time, then who else can win? Probably only Australia or the Springboks, with France a possibility on home soil. Rush acknowledges the physical strength of the South Africans but doubts they have the flair to repeat their '95 win. "Their method is to batter you into submission and then score," he says...