MIKE McROBERTS RUGBY AND WHANAU

There was 15 minutes to go. The All Blacks' one point lead in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final is under real threat as French replacement Francios Trinh-Duc attempts a 48-metre penalty kick.

From our seats at the back of Eden Park’s Upper West Stand my eleven-year-old son Ben and I are in perfect position to judge its accuracy. If only we’d had the courage to watch it.

Having worked at three previous World Cups including the gut-wrenching semi-final loss to France at Twickenham in 1999 and the disastrous quarter-final loss, again to the French, at Cardiff in 2007, here we were again. In prayerful silence, we sat, The Father, The Son and the Rugby Ghost.

Trinh-Duc missed, but the relief was short-lived.

Those final,