Cup Shorts: Piri's appetite and Quade's search for One Tree Hill

The 1999 King's Col1ege 1st XV team photo features at its centre Ali Williams, shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Tu'ineau. Photo / Suplpied

Piri, the moa hunter

Lisa Reweti knows a thing or two about the haka. She's the great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddaughter of Te Rauparaha, who conquered pretty much everything he saw and left us - happily - Ka Mate.

She's against the IRB's attempts to neuter the confrontational tone, forcing teams to stand 20 metres apart when the eyeballs are bulging and the thighs are being slapped.

"I would prefer to see them up in each other's faces," she told Britain's Daily Telegraph. Maori will respect you more if you come back with something.

Reweti's top haka leaders: Herald columnist Wayne Shelford and Taine Randell get a nod and there's special respect for Wellington's fulsome halfback Piri Weepu.

"He's awesome. Piri can eat a whole box of chicken. He could eat a moa."

Tweeting twits I

The Wallabies had a day off yesterday and took to Twitter to keep followers posted on their movements.

Quade Cooper asked what was a "must see" in Auckland. One Tree Hill was suggested, to which Cooper asked: "Is that still there?"

James O'Connor then relayed his Kiwi back-story: "Lived in Te Atatu for five years moved back to Aus at 11! Part of the elite barefoot Rutherford Primary team."

Bieber - who could have played for the All Blacks through his Kiwi father Warren - had a coffee later with "the boys" at the "Viaduct".

Just don't be caught there in the wee hours of the morning James.

Tweeting twits II

Until yesterday, the majority of tweets emerging from the Aussie camp were pleas for DVD boxsets and PlayStation games. Diggers, we can personally recommend the 1987 World Cup final released this week.

When we were at King's

If only they knew then what we know now.

The King's College First XV of 1999 proudly pose in the photo above. That's Daniel Braid in the middle, the captain. He didn't quite make it to tonight's big show, but Joe Tuineau and Ali Williams did. They're the tall blokes. They'll meet again tonight, 12 years later, for the opening game of the biggest sports event New Zealand has ever hosted.

Coreywatch Day 5

Statistics are everything these days and we think it's worth noting that in the eight seasons since making his All Black debut, Corey Flynn has had three test starts. Which is two less than his tally of broken arms.

Campo-duadua!

Coolest name of the tournament: Fijian prop George David Campese Ma'afu. Please - give us a goosestep ...

Brian O'who?

United States centre Andrew Suniula isn't over-awed by the big names. He was asked how he felt about marking Irish captain and centre Brian O'Driscoll.

"I don't know much about him. But I'll be looking at videos over the next couple of days and try to sort something out for Sunday."