THE LAST WORD

HERE’S hoping that the Kiwi public flock to the women’s World Cup which begins on Saturday in Auckland, and take advantage of a bargain on their doorstep. There are still large numbers of tickets available for the opening day triple-header at Eden Park: France v South Africa followed by England v Fiji, before hosts New Zealand take on Australia, with a Rita Ora concert in the halftime interval. Not a bad line-up for £20 per adult. And there’s still plenty of availability for finals day — the ‘bronze’ game followed by the grand decider — for £15 a head. Not only do the New Zealand team need as much home help as possible to threaten favourites England, the event needs to maintain its positive growth, which would serve as an antidote to some of the gloom in the men’s game. The stark fact for Kiwi oval-ball enthusiasts is the male global showpiece is unlikely to return to their shores as it has outgrown New Zealand’s limited infrastructure, so the public must embrace the women’s tussle for supremacy.