AUCKLAND // After four long years, Richie McCaw is counting down the hours before he can start trying to fully atone for New Zealand's poor finish to the last World Cup.
The All Blacks captain and coaching staff have answered more questions than they would care to remember regarding New Zealand's failures at every World Cup since they won the inaugural tournament in 1987.
With the World Cup back on home soil for the first time since then, McCaw is desperate to end the drought.
New Zealand's host cities and towns have been scrubbed and polished. There are flags for the 20 competing countries hanging all over the place, and the sense of anticipation is tangible.
The All Blacks open against Tonga on Friday at a revamped Eden Park stadium in what looms as a bruising, highly intense clash.
"It's a stage where everyone is at their peak and if you want success you've got to be," McCaw told a news conference on Thureday. "That's what motivates me - to test yourself in the toughest environment and, when you do that and succeed, that's when you can be satisfied. A World Cup is the biggest stage and you want to prove yourself on that."
McCaw and Daniel Carter, the star fly-half, were replaced during the 2007 quarter-final in Cardiff before France staged a magnificent comeback to send the New Zealanders to their earliest exit ever in the tournament. That came after the All Blacks had walloped the French in a warm-up match.
"You'd be a mug if you hadn't learnt in the four years since then," McCaw said.
The lead-up has been different this time. The top-ranked New Zealanders lost away Tests to South Africa, the previous World Cup champions, and Australia to surrender the Tri Nations title and come into the tournament on the back of consecutive losses for the first time.
"History has shown that what has happened previously - good or bad - means nothing come kick-off," McCaw said. "There'll be no complacency this time."
That is important for the All Blacks, as the Tongans are not likely to be ruffled by reputations. Ever since arriving on Monday, Finau Maka, the captain, and his squad have been shadowed by thousands of resident Tongans.
The welcoming committee was so large that Auckland airport became gridlocked for hours by cars and their red-and-white flags.
They are treating it like a neighbourhood game.
"There's no pressure on us, the pressure is on them," said Maka, who passed a fitness test yesterday and is certain to take his place in the back row against New Zealand. "We're just going to go out there and give it to them and see if they can handle it.
"We just don't want to turn up and make up the numbers. We want to go out there and show the world that Tonga does exist."
The Tongans won the right to start their war dance, the Sipi Tau, first. Organisers have said it is up to the All Blacks to decide when they respond.
If it is anything like the encounters in 2003 and 1999, it is likely to be instantaneous.
Organisers have planned a fireworks extravaganza across this harbour city and celebrations throughout the rugby-mad country of 4.5 million for the official opening for the tournament, which features 48 matches over six weeks - including eight in the first three days.
All the heavyweight teams are in action on the first weekend, with the most anticipated clash between England, the 2007 finalists, and Argentina, the third-place finishers, at Dunedin tomorrow - under the covered roof of a brand new stadium that has replaced the city's famous "House of Pain".
Teams
India (playing XI): Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
South Africa (squad): Faf du Plessis (c), Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
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FINAL SCORES
Fujairah 130 for 8 in 20 overs
(Sandy Sandeep 29, Hamdan Tahir 26 no, Umair Ali 2-15)
Sharjah 131 for 8 in 19.3 overs
(Kashif Daud 51, Umair Ali 20, Rohan Mustafa 2-17, Sabir Rao 2-26)
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
