Allez les Bleus!

Sympathy? You gotta be kidding me. The New Zealand press has not – suprise! – taken France’s stirring victory in Cardiff yesterday very well. Of course, like their neighbours across the Tasman Sea they’re not quite so insufferable in defeat as they are in victory. Even so, schadenfreude* demands that one scour the Kiwi press today:

Shattered All Black rugby fans can ease their mental pain by sticking with the World Cup until the bitter end, psychologist Marc Wilson says. Ignoring the tournament in the wake of yesterday’s shock 20-18 quarter-final loss to France would not help people get over the All Blacks’ early exit, said Dr Wilson, deputy head of Victoria University’s psychology school. “I don’t think you want to go cold turkey,” he said. “Spend time with your kids, take your son out, toss the ball around in the park. This is not the end of the world. “If I was giving a prescription I would say, convince yourself we should have won if it wasn’t for the referee cheating, and at least a Southern Hemisphere team is going to win.