"so it was surprising to read that New Zealand was the best.."

[chuck]

So in about 3.5 hours, game two of the 2010 Tri-Nations series starts.

Right here in Wellington, the Blackness will take on the Springboks. At Eden Park last Saturday the Blackness gave a right shellacking to the current World Cup holders - with the final score being, 32-12.

The ABs played intelligent, running rugby - and also smashed the living shit out of the Springbok pack. It was a beauty to behold.

You can see .

At the 1:30 mark on that highlights reel, Mils Muliana's acceleration is outstanding.

Anyway, thanks to my brother - and a meeting he had with some Adidas execs - I'm off to the game.

One of the best bits of an All Black test match, apart from the beers and the game, is the haka - the challenge that's laid down to the opposition team. Glen Osborne explains it pretty well .

The traditional haka is

In 2005 that All Black side wrote a new haka, to reflect them as a team, it's called - and that video from the game against the Springboks was the first time it was ever performed.

It's great theatre - last week they did Kapa O Pango, so it'll be interesting to see which haka they do this time. Weather is really wet and rubbish - but it's all good.