Allez les All Blacks!

Well, we watched the game this morning, bolstered by a delicious breakfast of bacon, mushrooms, avocado, tomatoes, toast and scrambled egg. The result certainly surprised all the experts, who were predicting anything but a repeat of the scoreline when the two teams last met in Paris. The victory was so convincing, that of course the next question is can the momentum be maintained into next year?

While we're on rugby, I am pleased to see I'm not the only one ill at ease with all this talk of waterfront stadiums in Auckland. Here's an excerpt from James Weir's column in our local newspaper:

When politicians try to build grand monuments to themselves, there is an international and long-running pattern of taxpayers forking out much more than expected, for much less benefit than expected...Building an Auckland waterfront stadium for maybe $700 million, maybe $1 billion, would get you two or three big new hospitals. Which is the better bang for the buck?

Yes, I'm aware of the economic benefits etc etc (which are also discussed in the Weir article). I agree that sometimes you have to have a vision and take risks.

But it's worth noting that here in Wellington, we still pay a proportion of every rates bill for "stadium purposes". I don't particularly begrudge that - it's an excellent facility which I have used, and which directly benefits the local economy of which I am a part. But calling an Auckland stadium "Stadium Aotearoa/New Zealand" doesn't necessarily make it of national benefit. Are the people who will bear the costs the ones who will receive the benefits? I just have a bad feeling about this...