Attention all 15 and 16-year-old rugby players - shine up those boots and get out to the training paddock because there's a World Cup coming your way.
What outstanding news we all awoke to this morning - New Zealand will be the sole host of the Rugby World Cup in 2011.
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don't think expectation levels were very high around the country with the 'experts' picking a two-horse race between South Africa and Japan.
But much like the way London slipped past Paris for the 2012 Olympics and Sydney slipped past Beijing in 2000, New Zealand has caused a major boilover.
While South Africa offered a better timezone and Japan offered an opportunity to spread the rugby message, New Zealand has a passion for the game unmatched across the world's rugby playing nations.
After all, what country can boast almost total national support and enthusiasm for a project.
And with the power of hindsight, maybe, just maybe, the lessons learned from the John O'Neill co-hosting debacle can now be forgotten as we now have the Cup here on our own in 2011.
But back to kids ... is there anything that will put a spring into the step of young Bay rugby players better than this news.
In 2011 there will be no Tana Umaga or Jerry Collins, there will be a new breed of young stars who are playing age-group rugby at the moment.
But with the talent they already possess, there is now the greatest of incentives for these youngsters to lift their game to the point where they could represent their country in a World Cup Final at Eden Park. What youngster wouldn't be inspired by that?
Hearty congratulations to the team who put together this bid and for their ability to learn from past lessons.
As NZRFU president Jock Hobbs said following the decision yesterday: "We were concerned and still believe it's an issue that if the tournament continues to grow at the pace it is - it could well get beyond New Zealand post 2011."
It is heady times for rugby in this country at the moment.
The All Blacks are creating a formidable reputation in Britain following their annihilation of the British Lions, the World Cup is coming this way and there are big changes ahead next year for both the Super 14 and provincial competitions.
With steady hands at the wheel, there can only be great times ahead for the game that is very close to the heartbeat of this country.
Attention all 15 and 16-year-old rugby players - shine up those boots and get out to the training paddock because there's a World Cup coming your way.
What outstanding news we all awoke to this morning - New Zealand will be the sole host of the Rugby World Cup in 2011.
I
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