Yikes, I got caught out by the timing of the World Cup and didn't set up in time for the first match. Wouldn't you know it, one of the starting safeties was injured. And go figure, our first match was against the USA. So we got thumped, 84-48. I'm pretty blown away by that offensive effort though. Scoring 48 points and passing for over 600 yards against the mighty USA is no mean feat, I don't reckon! Such a shame we had that bot defence. Considering how well our offence played, it might have been interesting if the defence had been up to scratch.

The other teams in our group are the Netherlands (so we got the No. 1 and No. 2 teams - happy happy, joy joy!) and Italy. To have any chance of progressing further, we have to beat them both. I have at least set up for the games and made sure the injured safety has been replaced.

Bah. Italy beat us 56-35, so that's that. However, the Netherlands beat the USA 56-49, which means they're out too! The No. 1-ranked team hasn't even made the quarter-finals this time!

Anyway, despite the abysmal showing in the World Cup itself, this has still been NZ's best-ever campaign, because we actually qualified for the thing, which had never been done before. So our ranking will surely improve after this.

MVP is Mike Leota, without a doubt. This team wouldn't have had a hope without him.

Meanwhile, back in the World Cup, I'm predicting a UK-Italy final - if they don't meet in the quarters or semis, of course.

Last season we faced the No. 1-ranked USA first up.

This season, our opening game was against reigning world champions Serbia!

We sure don't get it easy! Of course, last season we began with a sensational upset that started us on the road to World Cup qualification. That was not to be this season, as Serbia beat us 52-42. Hardly a disgraceful performance by the Black Helmets though. We even managed to outscore them in the second half, but they had got a bit too far ahead in the first half for us to be able to threaten any comeback.

Tough loss against Italy - 49-38. We actually led for a fair bit of the way, but they finished strong while we seemed to fade away.

At least we gave Croatia a good drubbing last week - certainly can't complain at a 56-7 scoreline! But we face an uphill struggle to qualify now. Need to give Croatia another hiding and try to beat either Serbia or Italy (preferably both - likely a mission impossible).

unlucky sleuth