Tauranga band Brilleaux is among eight entries in the REAL New Zealand Song Contest, and the only rhythm and blues entry – so far.

Graham Clark's song stands out among the ballads as the one that rugby crowds can help out with on the chorus – which is just what he intended.

'I wrote it pretty much because I thought that any other country in the world, there's no way they would choose a song written in another country to represent such a prestigious event,” says Graham.

'Can you imagine the Australians using a song written by a New Zealand band to do the world cup or something – it's bloody crazy. So that's why I did it.”

The official rugby world cup song is a song by an English band – as covered by The Feelers.

The REAL New Zealand Song Contest opened for entries from Monday, August 15 and runs until Friday, September 30.

It's an intiative by the REAL New Zealand Festival, giving Kiwi songwriters the chance to share original songs.

The five ‘People's Choice' winners will be played at selected Fanzones throughout the country during the closing week of the REAL New Zealand Festival and Rugby World Cup 2011.
The REAL Tauranga festival will be held on the Tauranga waterfront during the Rugby World Cup, where rugby fans will be able to hear Brilleaux's song.

'I don't usually enter things like this, but one of my sons sent me a link and said you should enter your song into this thing,” says Graham.

'I thought it was quite good song anyway, even if I have written it myself.

'It's tough and it's like rugby. Kiwis aren't very good at chanting and expressing themselves at rugby matches. All you get is ‘ki-wi, ki-wi,' so I thought maybe I could write something they would be more comfortable singing.”

He's written two versions, a non partisan version which is a general song about world cup rugby and all the different nationalities.

'I also wrote the New Zealand version of it, ‘Talking about All Black Rugby'. I can imagine the song being played in the stadium and every time it gets to the chorus the crowd would say: ‘All Black Rugby!'

'That was the idea behind it, that's pretty much what you get in rugby matches and sports events, so I just wanted to try and do something a bit more Kiwi.”