Martine Rolls: Bay's fizzing with Cup excitement

Are you getting excited yet? The kick-off to that big tournament is getting very close now and my rugby-mad 8-year-old has talked of little else for weeks between practising his passes and kicks.

My little guy has been playing rugby since he was 3 and is totally fanatic about the whole thing.

He knows all the All Blacks' names, their positions, numbers, heights and so on. Please don't tell my son, but I've never really cared much about the game. Until now - his enthusiasm is infectious.

This Friday, my two boys will be going to school all dressed in black with silver ferns painted on their cheeks to support the All Blacks.

It's a great way for them to get into the spirit of the Rugby World Cup. Even for the youngest, who would rather sing and draw pictures than play or watch footie.

To be honest, it is a huge deal for New Zealand and it is very doubtful that this country will ever again host a big sporting event like this.

As is only to be expected, the RWC is a hot topic on bayofplenty-times.co.nz, too. And on our Facebook page.

New research shows that aside from the All Blacks, it's our Aussie neighbours who we'll be cheering on.

The latest Fly Buys/Colmar Brunton Mood of the New Zealand Traveller Survey, released by the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA), found that, apart from the All Blacks, one in 10 Kiwis will cheer on Australia.

Samoa and England are our next favourites, cheered on by 8 per cent of New Zealanders. But 29 per cent of us say it's the All Blacks or no one.

Join the discussion on: facebook.com/bayofplentytimes.

We would like you to send us your personal messages of support for the All Blacks ahead of the opening ceremony and we'll publish them in Friday's paper. If you are supporting one of the teams being hosted in the Bay - Fiji, Samoa and Russia - we want to hear from you, too. Send your message to: editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz

No matter how shallow it may sound, women want something out of this whole thing, too, so we'd like to find out who you think are the best looking guys in the Rugby World Cup.

They can be from any team, so if you feel as strongly about this as some of the girls here at the paper do, go to the indulge magazine Facebook page and have your say: facebook.com/indulgemag

You might already have spotted the special events tab on our website for the Cup. This is where you can follow all the news and stories about the tournament, group tables, maps to the venues and more.

Even though the Western Bay is not hosting any games, here at the Bay of Plenty Times we are keeping the focus as local as possible. It's our party, too.

What I am looking forward to even more is the REAL Tauranga Festival. Any festival for Tauranga is good, and this one is promising to be a real goodie. One of my favourite local singers, Anna Hawkins, will be performing on the opening night.

Anna, who has an amazing stage presence, will be teaming up with some other talented musicians for the REAL Tauranga Festival and bringing the public classical and popular songs as well as haunting Celtic melodies. I can't wait.

Do you know the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen? Hearing Anna sing it the other day sent shivers down my spine. What a voice. Anna has a website with stunning photos, video and audio recordings that you can check out if you can't wait for the real deal, see: www.annahawkins.co.nz