Freeley Speaking: A nation's relief

Richie McCaw leads the All Blacks onto Eden Park for the Rugby World Cup semi-final against Australia. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Opinion

Track Mitch's Rugby World Cup adventures with his touring Twitter account: @NotSweetChariot

My travels have led me further away from Rugby Country, and I am about to head to Malaysia for a couple of weeks. I'm off to the mystical island of Borneo, home of ginger monkeys and a team that is currently ranked 63rd in the IRB world rankings. So hopefully during my time here I can find out some more about the country's rugby heritage.

More importantly, during the crunch semi against the Aussies on Sunday I took some time to look at the trending topics in Malaysia and surprisingly, the All Blacks were on the list. I'll be testing out some of my basic Malaysian to find out how the All Blacks are seen in South East Asia, especially as I will be watching the World Cup Final in some bar in Kota Kinabalu.

Describing the game as a "big win" last Sunday is a massive understatement. The palpable sense of relief was clear, especially when Quade Cooper punted into touch from the kick-off. It seemed like the jitters, the bottling, the choking had all gone.

New Zealand utilised the space fantastically in the opening exchanges, pinning Australia well back in their 22, thanks in part to Cory Jane and Israel Dagg who both threatened with scything runs. Within seconds the pressure paid dividends for the All Blacks as the ball was whipped wide for Nonu to cross over the whitewash.

The relief at my host's house in Melbourne was huge, along with the atmosphere at Eden Park, as "All Blacks" was chanted continuously by the 60,000 faithful in attendance.

Weepu made up for his missed conversion by slotting away a penalty giving the AB'S a 8-0 lead.

Immediately the Wallabies cranked up the pressure, with James O'Connor scoring. to the delight of the Aussie commentators. Meanwhile Quade Cooper was on the wrong side of pundit George Gregan's wrath - he branded the number 10 "wasteful" in possession.

Piri Weepu hardly brought his kicking boots and missed another penalty but just after, Cruden slotted away a field goal for the All Blacks to take a 11-3 lead. Quade tried to answer the pundits and after some sustained Wallaby pressure, slotted away a drop goal.

Luckily Weepu also found some kicking form and slotted away a penalty for the All Blacks, giving them a lead of 14-6 at half time. In truth it should have been much more, which caused some nervier fans to dismiss the missed penalties from Weepu as missed opportunities.

Thankfully they were quickly put at ease after half time. The All Blacks starting at a blistering pace, and doing a fantastic job at forcing their opponents into errors in the scrum. The Wallabies' David Pocock seemed to cause the majority of these errors.

Weepu converted to set the gap at 11 points, with everyone at my Melbourne host's breathing a sigh of relief. The points were also significant for Weepu and the All Blacks - his kick was his 100th test point, but also the team's 2000th Rugby World Cup point, the first nation ever to reach the milestone.

Piri again was poor with the boot and missed another opportunity before Andy Ellis came on. Again the pressure grew on the Wallabies, with the All Blacks' forward line completely dominating. More pressure arose, yet the All Blacks couldn't capitalise. Israel Dagg missed a well worked drop goal attempt, yet the Aussies offered nothing in the attack and were at the mercy of the All Blacks, who just didn't seem to close the game off. This was further compounded by Cruden's penalty effort from distance.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man and within minutes of Weepu's reintroduction, he stepped up to slot away the decisive penalty after yet more errors from the Aussie pack. The All Blacks were 20-6 up and the tie was effectively over. By full time Eden Park was a cauldron of noise and celebration, as was my watching post in Melbourne as we celebrated by eating some kangaroo and toasting a fine All Blacks win.

Now the focus shifts to the final, where the All Blacks will face a French side that have fought tooth and nail to make their way to the final. Many pundits have dismissed the French already, but I would not be so sure, and I'm sure Graham Henry will leave no stone unturned in guaranteeing an All Blacks win.

I suggest he looks at a video from 24 years ago for inspiration.