So the World Cup Final was an absolute jol. As you may have seen from the video clips we created while there witnessing history with MasterCard, it was the perfect spot for the tournament and offered endless entertainment options for the rugby fan.

New Zealand is a very unique place so I thought I would share a few pics and bits of info from my experience to backup my recommendation of you visiting it one day. Bear in mind that I was only in Auckland though, so I only really got to experience one part of the fun. From north island to south island there are a seemingly endless array of attractions and things worth seeing, but here are a few defining features from the 5 days spent there.

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I don’t think I have ever had more butterflies for a game in all my sporting life. After winning Pool D the Boks received a tougher than expected quarter against the Aussies after they got eclipsed by Ireland in Pool C. No matter though, the World Cup is about winning seven games, the question is however, do you think the Boks have what it takes in this one?

Sunday

South Africa vs Australia – 07:00*

BounceSays: Boks by 6

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There is something so special about World Cup sport. Played every four years, it creates a defining point in the careers of players and dishes up encounters with such intensity that us fans quite simply salivate at the prospects. This first weekend of 2011 Rugby World Cup matches more than lived up to this intro with absolutely everything except an upset happening, but it came so agonisingly close on a few occasions. The game we are all talking about however is naturally the nail biter between South Africa and Wales from yesterday.

Time for Warren G to regulate (his mouth).

The Boks started like true World Champs with Francois Steyn crashing over in the corner with Morne Steyn adding the extra two for a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes. From there it was pretty much all Wales though for the rest of the half as the Boks failed to assert any sort of forward domination and Fourie du Preez probably having one of his most ordinary displays in the green and gold.

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Just a few hours left now until the World Cup kicks off. Time then to talk to one of South Africa’s foremost online sporting figures and all round man of rugby – Tank Lanning. Tank is a former WP prop, now Sport24’s editor and publisher, and the man behind the country’s leading rugby blog Front Row Grunt.

Tank Lanning - not a former wing.

TheBounce: There has been plenty said over the past few months on the relevance of playing a Tri-Nations tournament in a World Cup year. Bollocks of money and building the game aside, what in your opinion would have been the best way for the Boks to have prepared after the stupidly long Super 15 tournament?

Tank: You want “Stupidly long”? Take a look at the Super Rugby fixtures for next year! But that is another story … I think the Tri-Nations should not have been played this year, but given that it was, I think the Bok preparation was spot on … Div needed to rest his main manne, especially given that they are of the more mature variety. And then bringing them back for the home leg was a good call. It would have been nice if SARU had had the balls to tell SANZAR that they were resting the players instead of making up the injury pantomime, as the Kiwis did.

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