They can now put aside differences including religion and speaking openly about personal struggles is the norm,

"I think the cool thing in the last 12 months is a lot of boys in the team are real, speak their mind, but it's not always just the picture-perfect things. We talk about the hardships that we face and overcome," Williams said.

"Obviously for me, I'm a Muslim, Jack Goodhue is a Christian, some boys don't believe in faith, we all put these differences aside for the betterment of the individual."

Williams felt that the current state of affairs made the team stronger.

"I think that's the cool thing that we have in the All Blacks at the moment," he said.

"For myself, it has probably evolved, you know I've been in this team, in and out, for ten years and I don't know if I could have had the conversations that I probably had today with a couple of the boys ten years ago.

Williams also spoke about how important his faith was in his preparation.

"I'm a religious man, and I believe all my blessings come from the creator," he said. "I try and live and move in a way where I create space for people to come into my light, and I try to affect people in a positive way."

Auckland University's Caleb Marsters and Dr Jermaima Tiatia-Seath have conducted a study into young Pacific Island players and their mental health.

The study shows that shows religion is a crucial factor in the wellbeing of young Pacific men.

Source

• tvnz.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: theguardian.com

And it was not just a matter of praying for a victory.

That strategy was no doubt not ignored; on this occasion seems to have been remarkably unsuccessful.

But it was their shared Christian faith that helped build their evident esprit de corps.

It was like a glue that helped hold these teams together.

"At the end of the day we're humble people. We always try to circle up with our opponents at the end of a match to pray."

"When we are in the circle we obviously thank the opposition but we also thank the big guy upstairs for the occasion." said Anthony Perensie who plays for Samoa.

He said that the Christian faith shared by most of the players is part of what binds them together as a team.

"The entire squad stops to pray before and after matches... "[Faith] helps keep us together. It helps bond us as a team." says Fiji's captain Akapusi Qera.

Nili Latu from Tonga told the Nuku'alofa Times, "Everything revolves around our faith."

Martin Saunders, contributing editor to Christian Today, reporting this phenomenon appeared to be surprised that Christian faith continues to be so closely connected to the every day life of many Pasifika people.

Even believing Christians from the secularised world are not sure quite what to make of God being interested in Rugby.

Seeing a 100Kg+ giants singing hymns is a bit of a novelty.

Christian Today is an independent media company with an evangelical christian orientation

Source

• www.christiantoday.com
• nukualofatimes.tbu.to
• Image: radionz.co.nz

He may possibly be referring to the Marist Brothers, and the Marist Fathers, many of whom played a prominent part in rugby in Tonga, including some who rose to the level of international referees.

The team tunes into Radio Tonga to listen to the prayers and support coming from their supporters at home.

"Night after night, sometimes through to the early hours, even when training is only hours away, they have been tuning in to hear the prayers and greetings coming from halfway around the world," Averis says.

Team member Sitiveni Mafi, who has played for Leicester and now plays for the Western Force says, "It's just amazing the support we have from back in the islands."

"Families and villages come together to pray … the boys can feel it so much here. It's almost like we were there."

After Tonga's surprise defeat by Georgia on Saturday, it looks like sackcloth and ashes will have to donned to make the supporters prayer even more powerful than they have been to date.

Source

• theguardian.com
• Image: theguardian.com

Last Sunday they went to mass at St Mary Magdalen's Church.

A video of the team singing was shared on the team's Facebook page and has so far been viewed more than 80,000 times.

Clare Bowskill, choir director at the church, praised the Samoans' singing, hailing them as a "beautiful and lovely group".

"They rang up on Saturday and said they were coming but to have 50 of them come along, they were so big they filled up half the church," she said.

"The singing was beautiful, I think it was the captain who came up to me and asked if we would like them to sing - which is what they did."

The team stayed at the church for about 20 minutes afterwards, posing for photos and selfies with fans and parishioners.

Father Ray Blake said: "It was impressive to see so many devout young men, who think worshipping God on a Sunday morning is just a normal manly thing to do. God bless them."

Manu Samoa also put their vocals to the test at their welcoming ceremony at the Brighton Dome.

The team performed a traditional dance and sang a native (sic) song which would not have sounded out of place in a professional choir competition according to the local reporter.

Source

• theargus.co.uk
• Image: theargus.co.uk

Pupils at St Pat's Town in Kilbirnie emerged from the school hall chanting "All Blacks" after the school called an early end to their punishment this afternoon.

When things got worse after the rout by Tonga, the faithful took out their weapon of last resort: they invoked St Rita, the patron saint of impossible causes.

And they have Mary on their side too, Notre Dame du Rugby. If the oval ball has a home of the soul, it is Our Lady of Rugby, a tiny chapel near the village of Larriviere-St-Savin, a shrine to rugby as an example of the Christian spirit, it has a stained-glass window where the Virgin Mary gazes beatifically at a scrum at her feet.

They ranked the 20 countries competing in the international rugby competition based on various social indicators, pointing to social equality or inequality.They then compiled all the rankings for each indicator to arrive at an overall ranking for each team.

They say they are not knocking international sporting competitions. But they want to see the positive values on the sporting field - fairness, an equal chance of success, unbiased refereeing - reflected in the social world. So that everyone has a chance, on a level playing field, to fulfil their potential.

Lakan is a Year 8 student at Thorndon School in Wellington and a rugby fan. He attends Mass at Te Kainga Catholic Marae. Here is his blog.

For all of you who are still moaning at Wales vs France. Wales may seem to be a fairer team on the field but when we look at the stats of equality, Wales gets knocked out like Kevin Mealamu and Tana Umaga clearing Brain O'Driscoll out of the ruck.

France is ranked no.5 on equality, while Wales is ranked 9th. In most countries rugby union is only played by the richer classes and soccer is more working class. Even though rugby is the national sport in Wales, it still has an effect. What does that mean? It means the gap between the rugby players and the football players is much smaller. No wonder Wales kicked like the pass of a Japanese hooker.

France also ranked No. 2 on gender inequality and No. 3 on happy planet which means they had a whole penny to enjoy, not a Halfpenny. Neither team is very innocent when it comes to military spending, but yet again France salutes its hands and smashes the ball right out of the line-out and into their hands. Wales only managed to break the line and get some points on the board is because Wales is a more peaceful country, has a less corrupt government and something that deserves a try, they are great at working with aid.

Wales lost. Get over it. If Wales were the great team we've been raving about then they would have been able to play without Sam Warburton. Yes it damaged their scrum and line-out, but wasn't it Mike Phillips who was the magic man?

Wales had at least 3 scoring opportunities in the game to take the lead but they Sonny Billed them like they were Quade Cooper. So if you look at the facts again you'll see a much different score. Instead of France skimming up a close encounter with a 14 man squad, they get away with a comfortable victory and a well deserved spot in the final.

France won and I cheered.

Go All Blacks!

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Image: Fox Sport

"I'm no wowser" says Nathan Burdon. "During my playing days I enjoyed the social side of rugby as much as anyone, but I was very much an amateur, with few pretensions about ever going any further in the game".

"Call me naive, but the stories of boozing rugby teams that have come out during this World Cup have left me baffled," he says. "If you were asked whether you would give up six weeks of the sauce for the chance to become a living legend, a figure to be revered for generations to come, what would your response be?"

There are those who say things are much better than they used to be so "get real". Martin Johnson says he has drawn three main conclusions from controversy that engulfed him:

1. International rugby will be a sadder, sorrier place if players cannot knock back one too many at the bar on a rare free evening. "Rugby player drinks beer: shocker,"
2. With mobile phone cameras clicking a hundred times a minute and security videos finding their way on to the internet in the time it takes a man to swallow the last of his spirit-based shots, drinking is very different in New Zealand now, than it in was when the Lions were here in 1993.
3. If the attention on leading players becomes such that managers have no option but to keep them away from the general sporting public, by locking them in their rooms if necessary - he would rather push off and do something else. "I'd rather be at this kind of event and enjoy the atmosphere around it."

Senior Islamic figures say people are seeking them out for insights into the All Black's preparations for the Rugby World Cup.

While refusing to comment further on the matter, a member of Australian team management confirmed that the directive, with specific reference to biblical passages, was included in the IRB's most recent weekly update circulated to all teams.

Wallaby winger Digby Ioane, a devout Christian, said: "I don't write Bible passages on my strapping but I know a lot of guys from other teams who do.

"They are saying that you can draw a cross but any words you have to write down and take it to the manager who has to show it to the IRB. I'm just glad they haven't told me to take my tattoos off."

Pompallier Catholic College principal Richard Stanton said the school term changes would disadvantage this year's NCEA students. "Instead of having four weeks at school in term four to work towards external exams, students will have only eight school days," he said

"This is far from an ideal learning situation for students sitting exams and may detract from our usual excellent results."

Other Northland College principals agree with Stanton, but all are also agreed that there have be some positives spin off's from the World cup competition

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: AKT

In the course of Britain's colonial rule so many Indians were imported to work in the cane fields, that by the time independence came around there were, in Fiji, almost equal numbers of indigenous Fijians and ethnic Indians. They lived in separate communities, their children attended separate schools and they practised different religions. Their political system was organised on racial lines, so that no matter what the outcome of the election, one group felt excluded.

Read Denis O'Hagan's Blog

Denis O'Hagan is a Marist priest and one of the editors of the online e-newsletters CathNews New Zealand and CathNews Pacific.

Godzone is a re-vamped version of the Gospel of Luke, featuring the text of the New Testament interspersed with the life stories of 10 international players whose lives have been transformed by their Christian faith.

Past and present players - including All Black Thorn, Fijian captain Deacon Manu, Black Fern Doris Taufateau, Scottish prop Euan Murray, Wallabies flanker David Pocock and former captain Nick Farr-Jones - describe their paths to faith in the book, of which 25,000 copies have been published.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand's rankings rate Japan champion in terms of social justice and equality. While being one of the world's richest nations, Japan and its corporations have done remarkably well with the national distribution of this wealth, making it the most equal of all 20 nations in this tournament. Japan is a global leader in this respect - to the point that the Wall Street Journal and economists like Amartya Sen say that Japan is ‘the only communist nation that works'!

Read Nick Borthwick's Blog

As the chaplain assigned to the Italian rugby team which meets Russia at Trafalgar Park tonight, he will be quietly praying for a better result than a fishing expedition he took part in on Tasman Bay last Saturday.

Equippers Church in Masterton has set up a cinema screen to watch the rugby action in an alcohol-free, family atmosphere.

In his column Brian Rudman points out that God is getting in again via the back door as it were as a result of the growing practice of involving the Tangata Whenua in civil rituals.

With the epidemic of blessings that has erupted as part of the rugby circus, "jet-lagged visitors could be forgiven for thinking the pilot had taken a wrong turning and landed in the Vatican Republic by mistake." he says

Read Rudman's Column
Image: The Fairfacts Media Show.

Brian Rudman is a journalist and regular editorial contributor to The New Zealand Herald, New Zealand's largest daily newspaper.

The service in St Andrew's Presbyterian Church was attended by US dignitaries, including the US Ambassador to New Zealand David Huebner.

Hundreds of people filled the church and the nearby hall and the service was full of emotional reminders of the significance of the day and of US patriotism.

The carrying in of the US flag, the rousing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner and the US Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band's trumpeter signalling Taps and Reveille were all moments appreciated by visiting Americans and their New Zealand hosts.

The welcome to the church for the Eagles squad drew a round of applause from the congregation.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Fox News.com

The topless parade featuring women riding on motorcycles, was scheduled for the same day as the Rugby World Cup game between France and the All Blacks, Saturday September 24.