'Stingy' Blues upset waiters

The Blues may have won on the rugby field at Cape Town but they have lost badly amid the bars and restaurants of South Africa.

Waiters at a top waterfront restaurant have branded the Auckland Blues Super 12 rugby team a group of "stingy no-hopers" after a group of six players neglected to tip.

The stinginess of the Blues made headlines in the Cape at the weekend.

The Cape Argus reported a barman in a top restaurant on the Cape Town waterfront complaining about the treatment from the unnamed Blues players.

"Six of them came here on Wednesday night and had a fantastic meal, several bottles of red wine, beer, seafood and even cheesecake," said the waiter.

"The bill came to 897 rand ($268) but they did not tip the waiter who served them one cent."

In South Africa, waiters and bar staff survive on tips and are paid no regular wages.

The barman even gave the Saturday Argus a copy of the Blues' bill.

"But this is not a unique experience. We have found that the Australians and the New Zealanders never tip.

"The Americans, British and South Africans always tip the waiters, but not these chaps from Down Under.

"People do not realise that our waiters don't get salaries. Their income is derived only from the tips of diners. That is why they go out of their way to offer the best possible service, but these Kiwis just took the service for granted, paid their bill and walked out."

The Blues players earn about $65,000 for a Super 12 contract or over $100,000 if they are All Blacks, dwarfing what a South African could earn, including a barman in a top restaurant.

The barman said: "It's amazing to think that these guys earn six-figure salaries and they are too mean to pay people their dues."

The waiting staff said they would be supporting the Stormers in Sunday morning's game, after seeing the Blues up close.

In the end, it hardly mattered, with the Blues blitzing the Stormers 26-12.

The Blues now head to Pretoria to take on the hapless Bulls, who are languishing, winless, at the bottom of the Super 12 table.

But the Blues' stinginess has also caused speculation on another, darker side of All Black lore: the loss to South Africa in the World Cup final in 1995.

Another waiter - again unnamed - speculated that All Black stinginess with tips could have been the reason for the alleged food poisoning of the All Blacks before the final.

After their defeat the All Blacks blamed a woman identified only as Suzy for doctoring their food.

"Maybe Suzy was a disgruntled waiter who wasn't tipped."