AUCKLAND (AP) ― As critics from around the world sought to better understand the trans-Tasman rivalry which exists almost in the DNA of New Zealanders and Australians, some of the most recognizable figures on either side surprised them Wednesday with expressions of mutual admiration.
New Zealand’s Sonny Bill Williams called Australia’s Quade Cooper a mate, and Cooper described Williams as “a very special player” as the pair admitted to exchanging text messages ahead of Sunday’s World Cup semifinal.
But appearances were deceiving. Williams and Cooper are mates off the field, as are the All Blacks lock Brad Thorn and his opposite Nathan Sharpe. But all are quite emphatic that mateship doesn’t exist within the field of play.
To make that plain, players from both sides began to lift the tone of the rhetoric around Sunday’s match at packed news conferences, heightening the tension around the semifinal, and the rivalry itself, from a simmer to a slow boil.
“I’ve been in touch with him, he’s a good mate,” Williams said of Cooper. “But on the field it’s a different story.”