On the 23rd of October 2011, New Zealands national rugby team won the Rugby World Cup. Despite consistently being the worlds No. 1 side for decades, it took a supreme effort to get to the Final and once there beat the French. The French played out of their skin’s, but well done our boys, proud to be a kiwi!

My All Blacks posts:

http://www.nutritionchic.com/all-blacks-revenge-dished-up-cold.html

http://www.nutritionchic.com/new-zealand-all-blacks-no-1-rugby-team-in-the-world-you-did-it-again-boys-proud-of-ya.html

http://www.nutritionchic.com/do-elite-rugby-players-need-15-eggs-a-day.html

http://www.nutritionchic.com/food-and-fluid-for-sports-recovery.html

http://www.nutritionchic.com/no-more-beer-burgers-its-sushi-and-sports-drink-for-our-all-blacks.html

I like the food analogies in this story by Gregor Paul in the New Zealand Herald today titled :  “ All Blacks revenge dished up cold ” …

“Having had four years to stew over things, the All Blacks exacted a clinical and soul cleansing revenge at Eden Park last night in their crucial Rugby World Cup clash. France were poked in the eye, jabbed with a stick then clubbed viciously with an array of weaponry they had no means to defend themselves against. Anyone who uses the scoreline as vindication the French were up to no good with a half-hearted selection and an equally lacking attitude really needs to dunk their head in boiling chip fat.”

What a game … read the story.  And , not only do the All Blacks of New Zealand bury their demons from 4 years ago, but the New Zealand Warriors win in an epic game against the Melbourne Storm to go to the NRL Grand Final in Sydney next week. My husband will be there!

• World’s rugby media reacts: ‘Hail the new world champions’
• NZ All Blacks vs France Video Highlights
• NZ Warriors vs Melbourne Storm Video Highlights

I’m on my way to the opening cocktail evening for the Food Writers Conference in Napier. The hotel lift opens at my floor and I stop, speechless, as Richie McCaw [current All Black captain] and a couple of his Canterbury Crusaders teammates smile nonchalantly out. No room for me – these boys are big! What am I doing wobbling off to eat and drink tonight? I should be in the gym chiselling my body like these amazing specimens. The momentary motivation passes as we enter the whitewashed historic Hawkes Bay Club, just a stone’s throw from our hotel.

“I’ve just walked into Brad Thorn’s stomach!” my friend Jenny from Beef and Lamb New Zealand says as we munch on large green Orcona jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and sprinkled with smoked paprika. “Those boys are big!”