Editorial: No place for rugby arrogance

There are times when it is great to be a Kiwi. And there are times when it is embarrassing.

The 2011 Rugby World Cup has brought out both emotions in me.

Last week, I watched locals and overseas fans exchange friendly banter at the supermarket. They pondered the merits of the next game, chatted about what the visitors were up to and wished each other luck.

It made me smile, to witness the spirit of the World Cup first-hand.

But I'm not so sure about the arrogance that we display sometimes. Fair enough for Kiwis to get behind the Irish team against Australia, but I think we took it a step too far. It wasn't spirited support of the underdog, it was fanatical anti-Australian sentiment. We didn't celebrate Ireland's win - we gloated over Australia's loss.

Keep it up, and that attitude will backfire on us if we make the semifinals and finals. Because every non-Kiwi in the stadium will be screaming for us to be humiliated on our home turf.

Where has our humility gone? We seem incapable of adopting a tone whereby losing is an option. Yet it is a genuine possibility.

The World Cup is not about who is the best team in the world at the time of the event - it is about who is the best team at playing winning rugby in a knockout tournament format.

The All Blacks may be the best team in the world, overall. But they are the worst of the top four nations in the sport when it comes to tournament play.

In the early stages of the tournament, the fun and spirit evident from visiting fans was contagious and it provided an opportunity for us to observe how to be a good fan. But we appear to have got a little carried away - where did the fun go? The only thing worse than gloating winners is bad losers. Let's hope we end up neither.

Craig Cooper is a former editor of The Daily Post.