Editorial: Team NZ should ramp-up the rhetoric

Team NZ need to learn to punch like Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill (pictured), writes Mark Story. Photo File

Off Bermuda's pink-sand beaches arch rivals Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA will spar bare-fisted in the opening race for the America's Cup on Sunday morning (NZ time).

Therein lies a mouthwatering rematch and a golden window to atone for the 2013 capitulation where Team NZ squandered an 8-1 lead over Oracle to lose by a single race.

In a manner we've become accustomed to, Oracle's firebrand skipper Jimmy Spithill yesterday posted a cartoon on Instagram of an American bald eagle swooping on a kiwi.

Off water and on I admire his style. Spithill is master and commander. He's neither villain nor cocky - he's just playing the game.

That's why after watching a recent post-race press conference I formed the opinion that the Kiwis should switch from their entrenched etiquette of humble rhetoric.

Because the psychology is paramount. Team NZ need to rise above the epic 2013 choke and deal with the fact Oracle already hold a one-race lead courtesy of the bonus point they received for winning the qualifying series.

Untie the mongrel.

The only one who offered anything adversarial was the late Sir Paul Holmes, who in 1989 challenged America's Cup skipper Dennis Conner about his alleged "cheating", resulting in the boorish skipper storming out of the TV studio.

Winning back the Auld Mug is a marvellous prospect. Isn't it appealing to be world-beaters in something off the footy paddock?

The expert sailors aboard Team NZ hail from an island nation founded by expert sailors in waka, followed by many more expert sailors. Worthy of a good fight, methinks.