Editorial: Our sporting nation loves it

You do wonder if Olympic supremo Jacques Rogge has had one sip of champagne too many with his unfathomable utterance yesterday that, based on the past 45 days, New Zealand is ready to host the big one.

Either that or the knocks Rogge took growing up playing rugby in Belgium are finally kicking in.

The IOC president is in New Zealand to watch tomorrow's Rugby World Cup final, and while pitching Auckland as a future Olympic host city is clearly taking things a nudge too far and part of Rogge's charm offensive, it's not difficult to share his underlying sentiment ... something along the lines of "you Kiwis have done a mighty fine job".

Which we have.

Revenue from ticket sales surpassed the magical $268.5 million target this week, no doubt eliciting a collective sigh of relief from the IRB who took a punt six years ago when they returned the tournament to the less lucrative shores of New Zealand.

As a nation we've also been able to exhale as the prospect of being knocked over by the Aussies in a third World Cup semifinal came and went, bringing hope that the drought that has extended since the All Blacks won the first World Cup might soon be over.

Sure, for the most part it's been hard to see where Tauranga sits in the oft-talked about "Stadium of Four Million".

Truth be told, it's probably somewhere out in the carpark given our lack of a decent rugby stadium, which led to a lack of games here and an embarrassingly-muted atmosphere, like we were stuck in a World Cup void while the rest of the country partied.

But judging by the sea of familiar faces at games in Rotorua and Hamilton, locals weren't content to sit back and look on enviously at the rest of the country.

We got on board, shelled out the bucks and jumped in our cars, determined to be part of the party and embrace this World Cup as tightly as our neighbours.

We were challenged to adopt a nation (as well as throwing our weight behind the Men in Black) and paint the town red, blue, orange, green or whatever other colour our opponents wore, just to let them know we care.

And that's probably been the best bit about the last seven weeks - New Zealanders joining in the party, engaging with the 19 other teams like they were long-lost friends.

For once, and hopefully not forever, watching rugby has been like a day, week or month-long celebration rather than a matter of life or death.

Tauranga Olympian Moss Burmester described to me this week how he'd almost burst with pride at how the country has embraced the tournament, while 1995 Rugby World Cup All Black Kevin Schuler said it had been a coming of age for Kiwis as a sports-watching nation, growing up fast as we fell into step, treating live rugby as a joyous day-long celebration rather than with the usual kick-clap, get-in, get-out mentality.

Fans thronging into stadiums the length of New Zealand or in fan zones have been shown how to cheer and laugh like Tongans and Samoans, drink like the Irish and bellow like demented donkeys any time anyone from Namibia, Russia or Georgia did anything good. Which was surprisingly often.

Resources have been stretched to hold 48 games but volunteers at the stadiums tackled their jobs with good humour and a smile on their faces, adding to the occasion.

Whether we'll get to host another Rugby World Cup in the foreseeable future is anyone's guess, although you'd have to think there's slightly more chance of that than an Olympics.

All that remains now is getting the right result on the field tomorrow night.