Watch: Beauden Parrot pecks a winner for Rugby World Cup - All Blacks v France

The Rugby World Cup is shaping up to be one of the most interesting yet, with traditional heavyweights underperforming as minnows of yesteryear pack a real punch. In the quest to pick winners from each match, we’re certainly not winging it.

Meet Beauden Parrot. The latest member of the Herald sports department is a striking green parrot, a male Eclectus (females are usually bright red) and while he looks cute he packs a punch.

But most importantly, he’s got the footy smarts and has one sole purpose: to predict the winners of each All Blacks pool match and with any luck, the finals.

Ahead of the tournament opener: Our brightly coloured colleague is backing black.

Two days before the next All Blacks match, Beauden will peck who he thinks will win the match, that being Namibia on September 16.

New Zealand kicks off their campaign against hosts France on Saturday morning (NZT), with Beauden thinking the Kiwis can get one over their old World Cup foes despite key injuries to the likes of Jordie Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Shannon Frizell and Tyrel Lomax.

Luke Kirkness with Beauden Parrot. Photo / Michael Craig

Using animals to help predict the winners of World Cup matches isn’t a new phenomenon, with New Zealand’s very own Richie McCow used in 2011 and it was Richie the Macaw having a go in 2015. In 2010, for the Football World Cup in South Africa, German octopus Paul rose to global fame by correctly predicting results at the tournament, including the final between Spain and the Netherlands.

The opening match takes place at Stade de France in Paris at 7.15am on Saturday. NZME will broadcast all All Blacks’ games from the tournament live on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and The Alternative Commentary Collective (The ACC), and across iHeartRadio platforms, sharing all the action and excitement straight from the tournament in France.

You can also follow the action live, with the nzherald.co.nz Match Centre.

Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.