Frame by Frame: 2007 rugby world cup exit

Sport Review #192

2007 was Peak All Black World Cup exit - the expectation of Richie and Dan Definitely winning the world cup final by 37 points coming up hard against France, Cardiff and Wayne Barnes-shaped reality.

As a nation, we were much less emotionally mature than the pandemic and neighbourhood Facebook group-ravaged Aotearoa of today. Somehow, four previous world cup defeats hadn’t given us the required coping skills to handle these shattered dreams and we reacted extremely badly, baying for the coaches’ (who would stay on to deliver a RWC win next time up) heads and generally wailing and gnashing teeth.

So we may learn from the past, Sport Review analyses this tape of fans wrestling with their feelings in the extremely raw aftermath of a quarter final exit.

Everything is going to plan early on, and the decision to spunk a grand with the Adidas corporation at Rebel Sport looks like genius.

After - all packed for an All Blacks tour that won’t feature the All Blacks. This poor couple are ‘guttered’ and the delights of Parisian walkways, steak frites and the Louvre are going to be totally lost on them.

A fully grown man in tears.

This man is still sat here, staring into space.

‘I don’t even care about rugby and look how happy I am!’

The man on the left went and paid money for an Alice band so nothing could obscure his view of the horror.

This guy is also gutted.

What a time to discover your kitchen staff are French. Their contract was terminated shortly afterward.

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