Richie the Macaw: How did he perform?

A fabled Henderson parrot seemingly gifted with sixth sense-like predictions has ended the Rugby World Cup tournament in disappointing failure.

Richie the Macaw had successfully called five of the last six games heading into today's final.

He'd been denied a perfect clean streak only by a questionable penalty call against the brave Scots which handed Australia a fortuitous semi-finals berth.

But Richie's decision to back our Aussie brothers over the men in black in the final showdown, while courageous, is now being labelled bird-brained after the All Blacks pulled off a historic back-to-back world cup victory at Twickenham.

The Herald's parrot pundit finished the tournament with a 71.4 per cent success rate after correctly picking three of the quarter-final matches and both semis - garnering a small legion of dedicated fans and international media attention. A few avid punters even began putting money on the green-winged macaw's predictions, as the aura surrounding his unique abilities grew.

So how much would they have made? Not much, according to TAB bookmaker Mark Stafford.

Placing a $10 bet on each of the seven finals matches according the bird's avian whisperings would have cost you $70 and returned an $80 payout - a profit of just $10.

"You wouldn't be rich, but you'd be up," Mr Stafford said. "You'd be up about 12 per cent."

The modest pay day reflected the fact Richie had mostly backed low-paying favourites, and of course his two failed calls.

"It would have been a huge difference if Scotland had won. That would have completely turned it around. He nearly got that right."

Henderson's Bird Barn Pet Store was inundated last week with visits from superstitious rugby fans wanting to see the sporting prophet in the feathery flesh.

A pet store worker said the famous bird had enjoyed a great run until the final game and she was shocked he chose the Wallabies over the reigning world champions.

"That's crazy. I'm glad he was wrong."

Pet shop owner Alan Jones was confident Richie's new-found celebrity status would not go to his head.

"He'll fall in love with a woman and then four years will go by and he'll be back into it."

Meanwhile, a North Island punter is celebrating a $140,000 windfall after making a record-setting $400,000 bet on the All Blacks to win yesterday's final.

Paying $1.35, it was the biggest wager in the TAB's history, but the optimistic Kiwi supporter would have suffered some nervous moments when the Australians closed to 21-17 in the second half.

Despite the big pay day, the TAB weren't hit hard after pocketing $130,000 from an Auckland punter who had bet on anyone but the All Blacks winning the tournament.

The All Blacks are already early favourites to successfully defend their title at the 2019 world cup in Japan.

Richie's picks

QF1: South Africa v Wales: Richie picked South Africa to win. Correct
QF2: New Zealand v France: Richie picked New Zealand to win. Correct
QF3: Argentina v Ireland: Richie picked Argentina to win. Correct
QF4: Australia v Scotland: Richie picked Scotland to win. Wrong
SF1: New Zealand v South Africa: Richie picked New Zealand to win. Correct
SF2: Australia v Argentina: Richie picked Australia to win. Correct
Final: New Zealand v Australia: Richie picked Australia to win. Wrong