NZ V ITALY

Not being able to stay up past 9.30, I took to the sofa at 8am on Sunday to watch the men in black destroy the Italians. Not a hugely exciting game really as a walk over is not so much fun. Having watched a couple live, I find them totally cringe making and I always feel sorry for the destroyed. Nevertheless, nice to see our team in fine form practising their moves and clever passes etc. I thought the performance they put in would not really be that great if they were playing Australia but realised that their game plan for the Italians would differ from that of the Aussies or another team.

I am also starting to worry about the fact that after one game against 'the fourth ranked team in Europe', that they are going to win. Hello!! Has no one been watching the world cup over the last 20 years??? Also the 4th ranked team in Europe is not really competition is it?

So, Dan Carter is amazing and so so so watchable, ball skills are fantastic, Doug Howlett is fun to watch. Forwards were working beautifully as a team.

Finally, TV3 can't really do the whole commentary, post match chat etc very well. They don't have the skills in their team. I am sure they are very knowledgable but they just don't have it. Andrew Merts tried but he has got a lot of work to do. It will be interesting to see how he improves over the tournament. Also, the quality of the picture is not great.