Wallabies had celebrities in their corner, but crowd was against them
Supermodel Miranda Kerr holds her son Flynn as her husband and actor Orlando Bloom support the Wallabies in Auckland. Photo: AP
Australia was well-represented in the stands at North Harbour Stadium today - notably by supermodel Miranda Kerr, her husband Orlando Bloom and their baby Flynn - but struggled to drown out the jeers each time New Zealand-born Quade Cooper was tackled or took a penalty kick.
Whatever it took, most New Zealanders watching the Wallabies play used any excuse to get behind their arch rivals's European opponents.
One was taking Italian classes, another had an Italian mother, while one other's school class adopted the Italian team.
A majority of the 25,700 crowd turned out in red, white and gree - whether it was face paint, a flag, a jersey or wigs - ensuring wild support for the Pool C underdogs on a wet and icy Sunday afternoon.
Rebecca Slade, a Sydney-based Kiwi, said most of Italy's support came from stubborn Aucklanders.
"There's a lot of support for Italy as an opposing team to Australia rather than for Italy in itself," she said.
"I'm not a fan of booing full-stop, I think it's really bad sportsmanship no matter who's playing."
Jason Harte and his son Kaleb turned out in Italian colours because Kaleb's class was assigned the team.
Jason admitted to taking part, "a little bit", in the Cooper hate-fest.
"He's a Kiwi," he said.
"A lot of people probably think he's a traitor."
Italian Marco Seminaroti, who has lived in Sydney for the past three years, said he appreciated the southern hemisphere fan club.
"I was expecting the Kiwis to support and cheer Italy and I was very happy for that actually," he said.
"I think the atmosphere was fantastic, I was sitting next to a lot of Australians and it was really friendly and beautiful."
Christian Abba said he was pleased with his team's showing despite the 26-point loss.
"Italy played very well in the first half, in the second half Australia came out, a very strong team," he said.
"But I think we are proud of our team, they played very, very well."
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