Footie fans' stadium singalongs | Bay of Plenty Entertainment | Events, Movies and TV Guide for Bay of Plenty

Before the Rugby World Cup, its official album would not have appealed much.

But now, having been immersed in the event and its excitement, and having stood in stadiums belting out other countries' anthems, I have a new appreciation for the songs of the game. A particular favourite is Ireland's Call - the official song of the Irish Rugby Union, which governs rugby for both the republic and Northern Ireland.

Sung here by Brian Kennedy and Paul Byrom, its tag-team vocals do make it sound a little like a charity single (a la Do They Know It's Christmas?, Sailing Away, etc), but other than that holds up as a powerful anthem.

There are other equally stirring songs among this album's 22 tracks. No matter where your grandparents were born, you'll find something here to identify with - be it a Scottish bagpipe medley, including Flower of Scotland, two versions of Swing Low or a rousing La Marseillaise (the world's best national anthem) from Roberto Alagna.

Even Hayley Westenra's rendition of Rugby World Cup theme song World in Union (as well as a bilingual version) gets the blood pumping.

Turn the volume up loud, close your eyes and imagine you're in the stands at the Millennium Stadium, Eden Park, Stade de France or Murrayfield.

Various
World In Union - Rugby World Cup 2011 The Official Album
(Universal)

Promoted as a CD of two halves (ho ho), Rucks, Tries & Choruses is an engaging trip back in time, from George Nepia's 1936 recording of Beneath The Maori Moon to five tracks recorded for the Rugby World Cup.

But it is very much a novelty album - a mix of enjoyable nostalgia with vocals by identities such as Reon Murtha, Winston McCarthy, Waka Nathan and the Canterbury rugby team, and classics like the Howard Morrison Quartet's, My Old Man's An All Black.

It's a compilation of great historical importance, but how often you'll want to play it is another matter. That said, it's fascinating to listen to the pro- and anti-All Blacks tour of South Africa songs Let Them Go, by the Silent Majority, and Don't Go, by Right Left of Centre. I thought I would never track the latter song down.

This album is probably suited to an older audience who will remember with joy some of the older numbers.

Various
Rucks, Tries & Choruses: The History of NZ Rugby ... in Song
(EMI)