Canadians know how New Zealanders feel. Except it was Czech Republic for us as opposed to Australia for them. At least it wasn’t the Swiss. That may have been too much.
Once again a New Zealand team heralded as the finest on the planet coming into a World Cup came up badly short.
And as their coach and captain faced the first questions of a lengthy inquisition, the atmosphere was distinctly funereal. All black you might say.
If you didn’t happen to be Australian, the echoes of Twickenham 1999 were hard to miss in the immediate aftermath of New Zealand’s semi-final defeat.
As a grizzled Kiwi journalist sitting alongside me in Sydney’s Telstra Stadium remarked: “It feels like someone has died…again.”
