Cup tickets in hand - almost

I bought tickets to the Rugby World Cup when they went on sale this week - and despite the best efforts of the feelers, they had nothing to do with it.

I love rugby, even if the game is currently in a sad state of disrepair, what with too many rules and rhythmically challenged referees muttering "crouch, touch, pause, engage" at scrum time. No wonder the big boys in the front row are struggling to lock heads and stay upright during the tiresome scrum sets. I hate to say it, but thank the rugby gods for the MySky remote. But I have every faith order will be restored in the game by next year.

Anyway, back to the music and the tickets (which I must clarify, a mate, his son and I have only applied for at this stage and we're hoping like hell we get accepted).

I love rugby so I don't need a song to inspire me to buy tickets to the biggest sporting spectacle New Zealand has ever seen. However, current affairs show Close Up has been running a competition to find a true Cup anthem following the uproar over the feelers' cover of Right Here Right Now.

The show screened some of the entries earlier this week. But one song, the magically titled Surround Me In Black, stands outs from the pack. It's not exactly one to play down at party central when all the fans are leering it up, but it's got all the hallmarks of a true anthem: passion, singability, and a touch of sentimental cheese.

It's the sort of song that will not only get punters holding their hearts in patriotic devotion, but possibly even inspire them to fork out for the hideously priced finals tickets.

Despite the high prices for the premium games, the "Eden Park pack" that my mate and I applied for is value for money. Depending on whether we are accepted we get five games - including the Pool A grudge match between the All Blacks and France - for $470. That's $94 a game, which - if you compare it to a Vector Arena concert costing anywhere between $90 and $300 - is good going.

So in 498 days I will take my seat for the opening game between the All Blacks and Tonga.

Who knows where my seat will be. Let's hope the new and improved Eden Park is state of the art enough that row YY25 is not like looking down at Richie and Dan from the heavens.

Applying for this ticket pack also allows us to enter the ballot to purchase tickets for the semi-finals and final. So, if I win Lotto, I will be gunning to buy a ticket to the final.

And this is how my match day will play out: I will get up as usual. I will have a strong cup of coffee with my hearty breakfast of eight Weet Bix and can of peaches, a second course of chicken thighs, eggs, and salad. Lunch will be something lighter.

A couple of hours before the game my A-team will gather at an establishment to bond over a few beers and fire up with loud music. Three-quarters of an hour out from kick-off we will strap up our wrists and knees with bandages and insulation tape, start slapping each other's cheeks, and slyly sharpen our sprigs on the concrete underneath the stands, before running out and taking our positions for battle against the Boks (because, ideally, it will be a New Zealand v South Africa final).

The game will be tough. Brutal in fact. It will not be won by drop-kicks. Nor will anyone be suffering from food poisoning. It will be a try-for-try showdown with the ABs coming out on top - for the first time, remember, since 1987.

Then we will be off down to party central, because there is no other place that I want to be than on a rickety old wharf watching thousands of Springbok fans drowning their sorrows.