Are the All Blacks Ready to Roll?

by Don, With Malice...

With the Rugby World Cup being able to be measured in mere DAYS before it begins (38!), folks from my part of the world (well... origins) - down South - are starting to get excited (hell, the Kiwis have been excited ever since they got over the last WC's semi-final loss to Australia, and that must be... about 3 months ago).
Lots of opinions flying around too about who's gonna win the Webb Ellis Trophy, and who's not.

-- Eddie Jones, former Australian coach states that he thinks the All Blacks are a team in decline, but they may be just good enough to get the job done. In prior Cups, the All Blacks have been quite a bit better than their opposition, but always manage to choke somewhere along the line. Jones sees this team as only 1 or 2% better, but with a more cohesive team this time.

-- Wallabies (Australia) skipper Sterling Mortlock (is that a name, or what?) is confident that his team has what it takes to bring the WE trophy home to Australia.

-- Josh Lewsey declares England ready to defend the title - a big claim given the absolutely ATROCIOUS form of the Poms since winning the whole shebang in 2003 (which, by-the-way, I had to watch at a British pub here in Japan, out-numbered about 34093-4).

Still, if I had to put money on it, I'd back the ABs. The Kiwis are looking pretty convincing, and as much as I would love them to do a Linda Lovelace (choke on the big one), I still see them performing the Haka at the final, and getting the job done. Goddamn 'em...

But do the Ka Mate haka, not the Kapa o Panga...

A very accurate version of the 'Ka Mate' haka...