In what appears to be yet another instalment of Attack of the RWC Loopholes, we received a rather excited email the other day with a photo of the newly repainted KFC Balmoral in Auckland that showed what they thought was evidence of KFC supporting the All Blacks. And while this would be the logical conclusion to jump to, the official line is that it has nothing at all to do with rugby. It’s simply to promote a new variety of Mountain Dew called Pitch Black. Of course, there are no rules against painting your shop black and white (even if it’s just one shop that’s quite close to Eden Park). But there are rules about non-sponsors leveraging off the All Blacks. And while it’s highly debatable this variety of Mountain Dew is worthy of such an honour (as one commentor on KFC’s Facetube page says: “pitch black mountain dew is rank”), it seems to be the latest marketing initiative to have snuck through the ambush traps.

Well played? Or ethically dubious? After the ‘they’re hijacking our team’ Adidas saga, the debate over the corporatisation of the tournament and news that attendees at the Christchurch fanzone won’t be allowed to wear branded clothes or take in any branded food or drinks, we predict most will be saying well-played.