Australian Rules: Falcons savour win to treasure

James Bowden is still struggling to come to back to earth after starring in New Zealand's win at the Australian Football International Cup in Melbourne.

Bowden's three goals were instrumental in the Falcons' victory over Papua New Guinea at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the International Cup, the unofficial World Cup of Australian Rules Football for non-Australian teams.

"I'm a bit knackered, so I'm taking it a bit easy today," said the Australian-born Bowden, who moved to Christchurch eight years ago.

For someone who only played a bit of "school footie" in Australia to run on to the "G" was quite overwhelming, he said.

"Not many amateur players in Australia or anywhere else will ever get that chance. AFL is a religion over there and to play on their hallowed ground is an experience that won't be forgotten very quickly."

After winning their five preliminary matches, the Falcons won the right to take on the PNG Mozzies as a curtainraiser to the Collingwood-Carlton match, with an early crowd of 5000 spectators at the start of the final growing to more than 20,000 fans for the latter stages.

"I was surprised by the noise," Bowden said. "It made it difficult to hear or make any calls to your teammates."

The half-forward flanker was not too overawed by the surroundings and was voted the man of the match.

The New Zealanders led most of the game, but did not manage to shake off the Mozzies until the latter stages of the hard-fought match to win 50 (7.8) to 32 (5.2).

On top of the MVP award and the gold medal, Bowden also collected silverware as the tournament's top scorer.

- NZPA