By Leigh O’Connor.
Once you’ve heard one rugby joke…you heard a maul!
One of international rugby’s fiercest rivalries is set to kick off again for 2023 with the first Bledisloe Cup test between the All Blacks and Wallabies on Saturday, July 29.
Hotly contested since 1931, New Zealand has won the coveted silverware 51 times, including the last 20 in a row, while Australia has held up the Cup just 12 times; in fact, the Wallabies haven’t seen success since 2003 when a drawn one-all test series saw them retain the trophy.
Now played as part of The Rugby Championship, Australia hosts the first game on Saturday followed by the second test in Dunedin on August 5. Judging by the way the two teams have started this year’s TRC, not many punters will be backing the Wallabies to pull off a tighthead.
Rugby is not the only great debate between the two countries…think Phar Lap, the pavlova, Crowded House and Keith Urban! Both sides of the Ditch lay claim to these icons and many more without giving an inch come scrum time.
We’ve argued long and hard over the origins of the pavlova – as a proud Kwocker (Kiwi-Ocker), I’m on the side of the Long White Cloud; what do you think?
Baking a pav and turning up to a backyard BBQ with it in hand is as Aussie – and Kiwi – as it gets!
Named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova – yes, we both agree on that slice – who toured Australia and NZ in 1926, the story goes that a Chef at a Wellington hotel created the billowy dessert in her honour, claiming inspiration from her tutu.
While across the Tasman, Aussies believe the pavlova was invented at a hotel in Perth and named after the ballerina when one diner declared the dessert to be ‘as light as Pavlova’.
We could both be wrong, as recent research by Dr Andrew Paul Wood and Annabelle Utrecht (a Kiwi and Aussie, respectively) suggests the true pavlova has roots in Germany and America.
The research duo claims to have found more than 150 recipes for meringue-based cakes that look a lot like pavlova, all published before the ballerina arrived Down Under.
Unlike the Bledisloe Cup, this is one debate neither Kiwis nor Aussies are going to win, but that doesn’t mean we both can’t keep making delicious pavlovas for an indulgent dessert.
Have we got a recipe for you? Try this frozen green pavlova from Chef Quentin Zerr next time you want to wow dinner guests or simply treat the family; an unusual combination of cucumber, green apple, pear compote and Chantilly cream make this the ideal finish to any meal.
As for this year’s Bledisloe, we’re taking a free kick on the result – we don’t want to get a red card!
