Rugby Word Cup
The RWC semis were compelling viewing, especially the first. Wales, despite playing a man down for 60 minutes, scored the only try and were inches away from beating France (Halfpenny's penalty attempt crept agonisingly under the bar).
The emotion of the haka seemed even stronger in this tournament than normal. The electrifying new version featured the players dropping to one knee at dramatic intervals, and a final gesture of hanging the opponent. It was great theatre. The stadium would fall silent for the performance, only punctuating the gaps in the chanting with cheers.
The NZ win the final put an end to 24 years of hurt. The losses of past tournaments were sometimes due to choking under the pressure of expectation as the favourites, on one occasion(1995) an infamous case of alleged food poisoning was blamed.
The All Blacks winning feels like the natural order of things has been restored, like Brazil winning the (football) world cup. In both countries it is a viewed as a total disaster if they don't win the respective quadrennial competition. They don’t get any plaudits back home for a gallant loss in the semis.
Perfomance of the Month-October
It has to be NZ, for getting the monkey off their back after 24 years.
Honourable mention: Andy Murray who won in Shanghai, his 3rd title in a row (including Tokyo where he beat Nadal), to overtake Federer as world no. 3.
