Counterattack: Stadiums alive to sound of music

Fans at World Cup games have been delighted with country-friendly songs played at venues to greet every try ranging from "Waltzing Matilda" for Australia to the Las Kethcup chart-topper for Uruguay.

American tries get an Elvis special, Welsh fans sing along to Tom Jones' "Delilah", Fiji get "Walking on Sunshine" and France a blast of the Can-Can.

So far Ray Charles has been heard once singing "Georgia on my Mind" when the east Europeans scored their only try to date against South Africa.

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Official cup rugby balls are known as the X-acts and took 18 months to develop, according to the Australian company that was given the contract.

A company spokesman said the new ball was the best available. "It kicks 1.8m further on average than the nearest competitor, as well as being 27 per cent more accurate."

It seems it is much better for goalkickers, which will cut the odds on England's Jonny Wilkinson going through the finals with a 100 per cent kicking record.

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They are a superstitious bunch the Samoan team and the latest one is that the whole team must get haircuts before each game.

Centre Peter Poulos had long hair before the cup, but he promised it would all come off if he won his first cap.

That didn't take long as he was selected for Samoa's opener against Uruguay.

The haircuts have worked so far for the Islanders with two wins out of two, but with England and South Africa to follow there will be some furious snipping.

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While Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium has been a sellout for most of the pool games there is a section of the crowd that is getting increasingly antsy about what they perceive as inhumane treatment: the smokers.

Several voiced their displeasure to the Courier-Mail newspaper at being herded into a tiny corner of the stairwell to enjoy their two minutes of pleasure.

"It's a disgrace. We pay top dollar and they treat us smokers like this," moaned one fan.

Another said it was just the next step to "housing us in cages and having the puritanical non-smoking fans hurl beer at us".

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It would be lucky to draw a handful of fans anywhere else in the world - even in Montevideo and Tblisi - but the match between cup minnows Georgia and Uruguay on Tuesday has already sold 31,000 tickets in Sydney.

Debutants Georgia have become huge favourites in sports-mad Australia with their never-say-die attitude in adversity, especially in the loss to South Africa, and a win in their closing game would bring the house down.