KEY POINTS:
Sorry, New Zealand. You just didn't pick it.
For the last two months we at nzherald.co.nz have called for predictions of who would win the Rugby World Cup. At stake was the prize of bragging rights of being named the rugby brain of the nation.
But now all the votes are in, the judges have conferred and the winner is? Er, no-one.
The closest was Predro from Portugal who picked England to win back-to-back cup titles early on with the Poms to beat South Africa 22 - 19 in the final.
Garth Hayward from the Republic was also close. Mr Hayward picked England and South Africa in the final with the Africans "grinding out a win". He also said it should have been a South Africa versus All Blacks final.
"You know it and we know it," Mr Hayward said.
During the pool play, many readers picked a France versus All Blacks final with the All Blacks winning. But Trevor picked a France 21 versus an All Blacks 18 final - scary given the quarter final 20 - 18 margin to France.
There were others who ranged from the imaginative to the humorous.
Teamluke said: "Portugal to edge out Namibia in the final, in a hard-fought battle of attrition and nerves".
There was an intriguing prediction from Instinctive in Auckland who saw the timing of Eid - the end of the Islamic festival of Ramadan - coinciding with the Rugby World Cup as significant.
Instinctive remembers visiting Muslim homes to celebrate Eid during the Rugby World Cup final in 1987 against the French.
"At one home I quickly separated myself while the others ate to watch those wonderful Kirk and Kirwan tries," Instinctive said.
He said in case the Eid celebrations don't work, a return to the Canterbury jerseys with white collars and Grizz Wyllie as coach will be a recipe for a world cup victory.
Andrew's prediction was a sleep-in. "A lie in, a casual glance on the net or teletext to see who won, out of slight interest (some hours after the game finishes), and annoyance at the inane level of media coverage in the following week".
All Black fans were also criticised for being over confident and several prophetic writers from overseas predicted problems for the men in black prior to the French game.
But the last word should go to the rugby seer Arron who said the South African and English fly-halves will kick away 90 per cent of their own ball.
"A likely scenario is that the ABs will get tackled a couple of times behind the advantage line, panic, throw a couple of intercept passes, and probably lose to a team that on a normal day they would beat by 30 points," Arron said.
Perhaps the NZRFU could use Arron in preparation for 2011?
