All hail berbatov!

The game of the day in the English Premier League was undoubtedly at Old Trafford, where Manchester United and Liverpool did battle for the first time this season.
The bragging rights looked set to be heading to Manchester by the time Dimitar Berbatov had clinched his brace on the hour mark. With the scoreline at 2-0, Liverpool looked dead and buried.

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But Liverpool idol Steven Gerrard leveled the matters just six minutes into the second half. He scored his first from the spot and then added another one with a superb free kick.
However, United ensured their top spot in the league when Berbatov notched up his hat-trick just minutes from the end.
The absorbing match ended 3-2.
Meanwhile, a win later for Chelsea against Blackpool will see the champions leapfrog Man United to the summit.

Haka!

The All Blacks perform a haka (Māori challenge) before each international match. The haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby ever since a tour of New South Wales in 1884. The New Zealand native team that toured Britain in 1889/89 used Ake Ake Kia Kaha and the 1903 team in Australia used a mocking haka, Tupoto koe, Kangaru!. The 1905 All Blacks began the tradition of using Ka Mate and by 1914 this was firmly established as part of New Zealand rugby. The 1924 All Blacks used a specially composed haka Kia Whaka-ngawari, but later All Blacks reverted back to Ka Mate.^[75]
In August 2005, before the Tri-Nations Test match between New Zealand and South Africa at Carisbrook stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand performed a new haka, Kapa o Pango, specially composed by Derek Lardelli and "...designed to reflect the multi-cultural make-up of contemporary New Zealand — in particular the influence of Polynesian cultures".^[76] Kapa o Pango was to be performed on special occasions and was not intended to replace Ka Mate.^[76] Kapa o Pango concludes with what has been interpreted as a "throat slitting" gesture that was a source of controversy and led to accusations that Kapa o Pango encourages violence, and sends the wrong message to All Blacks fans.^[77][78] However, according to Derek Lardelli, the gesture represents "drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs."^[79]
In November 2006, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, New Zealand performed the haka in the dressing room prior to the match — instead of on the field immediately before kick-off — after a disagreement with the Welsh Rugby Union, which had wanted Wales to sing their national anthem after the haka.^[80]
In 2008, New Zealand played Munster at Thomond Park. Before the match, Munster's four New Zealanders challenged New Zealand by performing a haka before the All Blacks started theirs.^[81] On the same tour, Wales responded by silently refusing to move after New Zealand's haka, and the two teams simply stared at each other until the referee forced them to start the game.^[82]

Introduction of rugby to New Zealand

Rugby Football was introduced to New Zealand by Charles Monro in the late 1860s; Monro discovered the sport while completing his studies at Christ's College, Finchley, England.^[4] The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first union, Canterbury, was formed in 1879.^[5] In 1882, New Zealand's first internationals were played when the Southern Rugby Union (later the New South Wales Rugby Union) toured the country. The tourists played Auckland provincial clubs twice, Wellington twice and once each against Canterbury, Otago and West Coast, North Island, winning four games and losing three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to go overseas toured New South Wales; New Zealand played and won eight games.^[6]
The first tour by a British team took place in 1888 when a British Isles team toured Australia and New Zealand, but no Test matches were played. The players were drawn mainly from England and the Scottish Borders, although there were representatives from all four home unions.^{[citation needed]}