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All Blacks: Heading home to a barrage
Before the weekend, it was all breast-beating confidence bordering on arrogance at times, but after the shock of Cardiff, chaos reigns in New Zealand's rugby fraternity.
There's nothing like a stunning defeat at national level in the national sport to bring out public displays of emotion, and New Zealanders, whose World Cup odyssey will now last at least another four years, are rarely ones to keep their heads beneath the parapet at the best of times.
As well as the serious 'why we didn't win', 'how we lost', 'we must blame everyone possible', and 'at least we scored more points than Aussie' stuff, there's been plenty of reaction from beyond the fringe too.
One chap advertised his services as a sympathiser on 'Trade me' - New Zealand's version of ebay - offering to sit down and listen to Aucklanders' rugby gripes over a couple of beers. Bidding had reached nearly NZ$200 ($153) by Monday!
The same seller also offered sympathy services nationwide, saying he would sell his time on the phone as a listener.
Another seller jokingly offered the Used All Blacks for sale, quoting them as 're-conditioned earlier this year, fully mobile and working, but with the choke stuck on full'. It seems sympathy was more desirable - bidding for that only reached NZ$11 ($8) by the time the ad was pulled.
A different ad offering to sell the AB team was offered a lemon in exchange but the seller refused, saying the taste in his mouth was already too bitter.
Other fans - no doubt hoping to forget the whole sad event - were also quick to put memorabilia up for sale.
A "wet and limp" All Blacks flag was described as being limp like the team it represented and wet like the "wet fish referee" we had to endure.
Another flag was described as being damp from wiping tears and came with suggested new uses, including tying French legs together, blindfolding the English, shoving in the referee's mouth or cleaning the touch judges' glasses.
The IRB was also put up for sale, with the vendor saying that he would sell it cheap as it was 'old and unpredictable'.
That ad degenerated into a ranting blog-style text about the IRB's faults and the perceived misadministration of this World Cup, including the colour clash of jerseys in the ABs v Scotland match and the refereeing appointments.
That was the good-humoured irony; less pleasant was the New Zealander who re-wrote referee Wayne Barnes' entry in Wikipedia, offering a bounty on the referee's head and calling him virtually every four-letter word under the sun, with an introduction tantamount to a death threat.
