Boy, those rugby writers at The Times of London have a real snitch against the All Blacks don't they?
Stephen Jones has become infamous for his poison-pen diatribes against the men in black - although there hasn't been a peep out of him recently.
Clearly he's of the schoolof thought that if you don't have anything nasty to say, say nothing at all.
Now we have Times Online writer Patrick Kidd putting the All Blacks at the top of the list of the biggest sporting chokers of all time.
The 1999 team, that is, specifically the team that squandered a 24-10 lead against France to lose the World Cup semifinal.
Kidd says he could have had any number of All Black teams on the list. The 1995 team. The 2001 team. The 2003 and the 2007 sides. Has self belief and potential ever exploded so often, so predictably, Kidd asks.
He puts the '99 All Blacks ahead of the South African cricket team of the same year who botched their game against Australia and Greg Norman blowing a six stroke lead in the '96 US Masters. Any list is always subjective but really - the English football team at 19? Tim Henman 26? The English cricket team at 27?
Give me a break. Kidd is confident the ABs will fall at the final hurdle again next year but I have faith. Once we're holding the World Cup aloft, I shall make Jones and Kidd eat their words. Then they'll know all about choking.
