Word: zealanders
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Call it a sideways moment. New Zealand vintners Sam Neill and Adam Peren are surveying a rugged hillside vineyard and discussing why Pinot Noir is the most sensuous and elusive of wines. "If Pinot were a woman, she'd be Audrey Tautou in Amélie," says Neill. "Kristin Scott Thomas," offers Peren. "No, Kristin's a dry Riesling," Neill insists...
...century ago that rugby ceased to be just a sport to New Zealanders and became a vehicle for national pride. In 1905, New Zealand sent to Britain a squad combining players of European origin with the physically imposing indigenous Polynesians. But for a loss to Wales, the tourists trampled everyone in their path. Later, rugby became the one sport in which New Zealand could be confident of beating "big brother" Australia, where the best athletic talent gets scattered between several football codes. It's rugby that allows New Zealanders to believe they matter in the world, says Douglas Booth...
...when they don't win? It's not pretty. John Hart had the misfortune of being the All Blacks coach when they were overwhelmed by France in their World Cup semifinal at Twickenham, England, in 1999. In the weeks afterward, he was vilified on New Zealand talk-back radio and spat on by patrons at an Auckland racetrack. Four years later, the All Blacks lost another semifinal 22-10 to Australia in Sydney. The coach that night, John Mitchell, was sacked, and now coaches in Australia. He declined to be interviewed by TIME on the All Blacks. "He baulks...
...Blacks are the Cup favorites, rivals are taunting them with predictions of another premature au revoir. It doesn't look likely. Under coach Henry, the Blacks have been potent, winning 38 of their 43 matches since the last Cup. But if it isn't to be New Zealand's time, who else can win? Probably only the big-occasion Australians or the grinding, brutal South Africans, whose ruthless preparations for this Cup signal their determination to lift it. On home soil, the always-stylish French are another possibility. Asia's sole representative, Japan, under former All Black John Kirwan, will...
...There's one other certainty in the coming weeks, and that's schoolteacher Winterbottom continuing the family tradition by waking his daughter, 8-year-old Isabella, for the All Black telecasts. All over New Zealand, huddled families will be praying that a historical anomaly will be dispatched along with a nation's frustration. And yes, the kids may even be allowed to break a household rule...