New Zealand came to a standstill on Oct. 23 as the country’s national rugby team, known as the All Blacks, won its second World Cup. They became the second team in history to win the title twice, joining Australia and South Africa. It was a long time coming though as New Zealand’s first victory was almost a quarter of a century ago when they won the first ever Rugby World Cup back in 1987.

New Zealand captured its second Web Ellis Trophy with a tight 8-7 win over France in front of their home fans at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. There were some similarities between this win and their first triumph since they also beat France at home in the inaugural tournament in 87.  However, things weren’t so close 24 years ago as they beat the French by 29-9 back then.

The All Blacks have long been considered by many fans and experts to be the best rugby squad in the world and now they have proof, at least until the next tournament takes place in England in 2015. New Zealand was heavy favorites to win the cup heading into the 2011 event as they were the host nation. They were also heavily favored in the final game since they had already beaten France 37-17 in the group stage of the tournament.

In addition, France was also beaten 19-14 by Tonga, making them the first team in World Cup history to reach the final after losing two group games. New Zealand went unbeaten in the tournament with wins over Tonga (41-10), Japan (83-7), France (37-17), and Canada (79-15) in the group stage before beating Argentina (33-10) in the quarterfinals and Australia (20-6) in the semis. France knocked out England (19-12) in the quarterfinals and got by Wales 9-8 in the semifinals.

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and coach Graham Henry were over the moon with the victory and said the whole country should be proud of the achievement. They said the team was under enormous pressure and it managed to dig down as deep as possible to ensure the cup came back to New Zealand. It was as close as a game can get with New Zealand taking a 5-0 lead in the 15^th minute after a try by Tony Woodcock. They extended the lead to 8-0 lead in the 45^th minute when Stephen Donald kicked a penalty.

It didn’t take long for France to reply after that as captain Thierry Dusautoir narrowed the gap to 8-5 in just 120 seconds later and Francois Trinh-Duc scored on the conversion to make it 8-7. The crowd of 61,000 then witnessed some of the most intense action in a rugby final as France poured it on over the last 23 minutes of the game, but weren’t able to penetrate the All Blacks excellent defense.

France manager Marc Lievremont told reporters after the game that he was sad at losing, but still very proud of his players. He said his team proved they were just as good as New Zealand, even if they didn’t manage to win the game.

Along with two World Cup triumphs, New Zealand were runners up in 1995, finished in third place in 1991 and 2003, and were fourth-place finishers in 1999. France was runner up in 1999 as well after Australia beat them 35-12. They also have two fourth-place and a third-place finish in the 20-team event over the years.

Some of Australia’s best rugby players have been asked to donate their brains after they die to help scientists study the effects concussions have on athletes in general and those from the National Rugby League (NRL) specifically. The Sports Legacy Institute, which operates out of Boston University, has hired two Australian researchers whose job is to study Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in the athletes.

They got the idea to study the brains of rugby players after Shaun Valentine, a former player with North Queensland in Australia, revealed that he regularly suffers from vomiting, nausea, and dizziness. Valentine is one of several retired players who are wondering if their health has been put at risk after all the years of taking hits to the head.

Chris Nowinski, who’s the president of the Sports Legacy Institute, is setting up a meeting with Valentine and is hoping he will be the first Australian rugby league player to donate his brain to it.

If he does donate his grey matter he definitely won’t be the first athlete to as the institute already has a bank of over 1,000 brains which were donated by boxers, wrestlers, football, ice hockey, and soccer players.

The 32-year-old Nowinski himself is a Harvard graduate who used to wrestle in the WWE and had to retire when he was just 25 after suffering from repeated concussions. He said that today’s generation of athletes who engage in contact sport is suffering all over the world due to a huge problem which has to be solved.

He said the institute, which was launched in 2007, has already studied hockey players, NFL’ers and wrestlers, but they haven’t diagnosed rugby players as of yet.  He said they don’t have any brains in the bank and there’s nobody on the donation registry list yet. This is why he wants to meet with Valentine and other rugby players if possible.

He said the discovery of CTE in a person can only be done after they die and this is why the disease can only be studied then. It causes the brain tissue to degenerate and the person may suffer from aggression, depression, and severe Alzheimer’s when they’re living. Nowinski and his researchers are creating several brain banks with donations from former and current athletes with ex-boxer Micky Ward recently agreeing to donate his.

Australian researchers are planning on talking to some of that country’s most well-known rugby players such as Wally Lewis, Bob Fulton, and Johnny Raper. They also plan on inviting any athlete who plays a contact sport to donate their brain, no matter if they’re professionals or play in the local beer league.

David Garnsey, who’s the head of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA), said it’s something that interests him, but he’d like to speak with Dr Richard Parkinson, a neurosurgeon from Sydney, first to see how much progress has already been made in the field. Parkinson is working in America at the moment while conducting a two-year study on the impact of spinal and head injuries on rugby players.