Wednesday, August 4, 2010

New Zealand V Tonga Tickets, Rugby World Cup Tickets

The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks represent New Zealand in rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. They won the inaugural Rugby World Cup, are the leading points scorers of all time and the only international rugby team with a winning record against every test nation they have played. They have the highest win ratio of close to 75 percent and rank as the number one team in the world for the most period of time in IRB World Rankings. More than half of the top 20 ranked rugby union test nations have never beaten New Zealand in over 100 years of international competition.

The All Blacks compete annually with the Wallabies (Australia) and the Springboks (South Africa) in the Tri-Nations Series, and have been Tri-Nations champions nine times in the tournament's 14-year history. They hold the Bledisloe Cup which they contest annually with Australia and have three times completed a Grand Slam (in 1978, 2005 and 2008) defeating all four Home Nations during one tour.

Currently the number one ranked team in the IRB World Rankings they were named the International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, one into the IRB Hall of Fame.

New Zealand have won the World Cup once in the 1987 inaugural competition held in New Zealand and Australia. In 1991, they lost their semi-final to Australia before winning the playoff for third. In 1995, they improved by reaching the final, before losing in extra time to hosts South Africa. They finished in fourth place in 1999, after losing their semi-final and then the third-place playoff game. In 2003, New Zealand were knocked out by hosts Australia in their semi-final, before finishing third. The 2007 World Cup saw their worst tournament, being knocked out in the quarterfinals by the host nation France; until this they were the only team to have reached the semifinals of every tournament. As a result of the poor performance in the 2007 World Cup the New Zealand Rugby Union commissioned a 47 page report to detail the causes of the failure.

The Tonga national rugby union team is nicknamed ʻIkale Tahi (Sea Eagles). Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a war dance - the Kailao (aka the Sipi Tau). They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Samoa.

Like a lot of the big Pacific rugby nations, Tonga has a pre-match ritual. The Sipi Tau is a form of the Kailao. Tonga perform the kailao/Sipi Tau prior to the commencement of a match. The kailao was originally a war dance that was imported to Tonga from Wallis Island. It is usually performed at both public and private ceremonies. One of the most memorable performances in modern times of the Sipi Tau was during the 2011 Rugby World Cup Tickets in Australia, in Tonga's match against the All Blacks. The All Blacks began their traditional haka, and then Tonga answered to the haka through the sipi tau whilst the All Blacks were performing it, bringing the teams within metres of one another just prior to kick-off.


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