A royal welcome awaits

Friday brought about a golden return to form by Australia and the royal arrival of Zara Phillips in New Zealand, presumably planning to have a discussion with hubby Mike Tindall.

The Wallabies quickly forgot about their woes against Ireland and were given all the time and space they wanted to trounce USA 67-5 in a real thrashing.

America will live to fight another day, and will have their eyes on the match with Italy in four days time that could earn them a third place finish in Pool C and automatic qualification to the next World Cup.

However, things were less likely to be quite to rosy in the England camp ahead of their match against Romania on Saturday following Phillips’ arrival.

Queen Elizabeth’s grand-daughter may want to ask Tindall about the mystery blonde he was spotted with during ‘a night out with the lads’, that has brought about a media storm surrounding the team.

England manager Martin Johnson was understandably frustrated with more questions from the British press about the incident and denied that Phillips’ arrival will be disruptive.

“It’s not unusual. Players’ wives are often around before games so it’s not any big deal for this squad,” Johnson told the media.

“They are used to players’ wives coming in and she (Phillips) is one of the players’ wives.

“She’s high-profile – but our guys train with Jonny Wilkinson every day and he’s pretty high-profile,” he quipped.

All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw, who will become the first New Zealander to reach 100 Test caps on Saturday, was asked what activities the Princess Royal could do while she was in Dunedin.

Having been born in the Otago region at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island, McCaw sheepishly admitted to not having a clue.

“I don’t know,” he told AFP.

“I was going to say something about seeing some seals out on the peninsula, but I don’t know.”

Was Gollum’s Precious stolen?

The small town of Matamata in Waikato was sent into a stir with reports that some South African rugby players had attempted to steal a sign from a bar.

Matamata is better know for being used in the Hollywood adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s classic The Lord of the Rings, but instead of the town’s statue of Gollum, it was a TAB sign at the pub that the South Africans allegedly deem Prrrrecioussssss.

According to the Matamata Chronicle, Trac Sports Bar owner Gail Bailey stopped two men with South African accents from making off with the sign. The men, one with dark hair and a beard and the other with blonde hair, returned the sign after one man claimed to be Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.

Breakdance if you don’t like the Haka:

Fiji coach Sam Domoni said critics of the famous haka could breakdance before games if they like but they couldn’t stand in the way of Pacific tradition.

Domoni was speaking after South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said the pre-match war dances were becoming over-exposed during the World Cup and were in danger of losing their impact.

“It’s a tradition for all the teams. It tells their culture and they’re here to express themselves through that and through how they play the game,” Domoni told AFP.

“People can say whatever they think but it’s tradition, it’s been there all the time… (it’s a proud moment) for us, for New Zealand, for whoever’s doing it. These people can breakdance, whatever pleases their fancy. That’s it.”

Choristers’ treatment strikes sour note:

There’s reportedly discord among the volunteer choirs performing national anthems before World Cup matches after members were told they would not receive tickets to the tournament’s major matches.

One chorister said the unpaid singers were “gutted” after discovering they would have to leave match venues after their performances, instead of being allowed to watch the games they helped introduce.

The unnamed singer told the New Zealand Herald that the choristers had believed they would get to see the big matches, including the All Blacks v France, the quarterfinals, semis and the final.

“It would have been quite nice to have been recognised in that way,” the singer said. “It’s the way it was handled, there was an expectation raised.”

My way on the highway for GPS All Blacks:

The All Blacks could never be accused of lacking direction after the launch of satellite navigation device featuring players’ voices, part of the ubiquitous marketing surrounding the World Cup in New Zealand.

The ‘limited edition’ All Blacks navigation device, from a leading GPS manufacturer, has Ma’a Nonu, Kieran Read and Mils Muliaina calling out directions to drivers.

Inside centre Nonu even manages to slip in a reference to his patchy disciplinary record in his comments, saying: “Full charge ahead, better than 10 minutes in the sin bin, I know how that feels.”