Gloating Australians strangely silent as massive Wallaby defeat hits home

SYDNEY - The All Blacks shut down the Wallabies and shut up their Ocker fans.

The silence is usually short-lived, so enjoy it while you can.

After months of New Zealanders being mocked as losers, practice bunnies for world champion Australian teams and being just plain bores, the national rugby team joined the Silver Ferns netballers in putting a smile back on New Zealand faces.

Some winners were only too happy to rub it in as they left Telstra Stadium after the match.

"Fifty points, fifty points," a couple of supporters dressed in black taunted a group of not-so-smiling green and gold supporters.

A New Zealand reporter at the game received a text message from an Australian friend: "Oh no, congratulations, but I am turning off the phone now."

In a Homebush Bay bar, a happy New Zealander said: "I've been living here for 20 years and it's been hard for the last six or seven, what with those close losses. They [Aussie mates] really serve it up ... 12 schooners thanks barman ... so we can give it back to them now."

The barman told Happy Kiwi he could only get four beers at a time, so Happy Kiwi told him, "Fine, I'll be back for more soon. Who won the rugby by the way?"

The match made it two out of three in a transtasman sporting week treble, with the rugby and netball teams triumphant, but the Kangaroos caning the Kiwis 48-6 in a league embarrassment at Aussie Stadium on Friday night.

Two out of three ain't bad, particularly against a nation which has been trumpeting its sporting domination over New Zealand in those sports for much of the past decade.

In a bizarre newspaper column on Friday entitled "Us and Thum," examining transtasman sporting rivalry, the Daily Telegraph declared New Zealand superior in just of two of 11 codes - netball and bowls.

Australia were considered best in test and one-day cricket, rugby ("2-1, as in World Cups"), league, cycling, horse racing, swimming ("by the length of the pool and back again") and, incredibly, rowing and basketball.

The rugby claim is looking a bit sick now. In Sydney, Kiwis will be wearing black to work all week.

* The All Blacks gatecrashed Australian Prime Minister John Howard's birthday party when they spanked his beloved Wallabies.

Howard celebrated his 64th birthday by going to Telstra Stadium for the test, hoping for an Australian win.

He was a guest of Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill, who hosted more than 100 people to the match. The ARU sold about 6500 corporate packages, costing from A$500 ($567) to A$1400 ($1587) a head, giving the union a A$5 million ($5.67 million) windfall.

In all, 82,096 fans attended the match, dwarfing the 30,605 crowd attracted to the league test.

It was, however, well below the 107,402 record for a rugby test crowd at Telstra, then Olympic Stadium, in August 1999 when Australia beat New Zealand 28-7.

- NZPA