World Cup match outcomes are being predicted by a ‘psychic’ sheep named Sonny Wool.
The New Zealand sheep, whose name is inspired by the All Black midfielder, Sonny Bill Williams, has already made his third Rugby World Cup prediction, backing the All Blacks to beat France on Saturday – naturally.
The three-year-old sheep has been making headlines across the world after successfully predicting the outcome of the All Blacks’ first two pool games against Tonga and Japan.
Today he showed off his apparently remarkable gift of foresight at the Titahi Bay Playcentre in Porirua.
Sonny’s way of communicating is through his feed, with corresponding flags attached.
Sonny took his time today, unlike his World Cup prediction for the Japan match when he made straight for the hay underneath the New Zealand flag and hungrily devoured it.
Today, he checked out both containers of food before deciding on the All Blacks.
The sheep’s special powers became clear when he was a young lamb. He would predict when it would rain by tapping on a door to get inside.
His owner, Beverley Dowling told ONE News she does get extremely nervous before he makes his predictions.
“I think maybe he was just predicting rain before and the rest is fluke,” she said.
Dowling claimed last week that because sheep originated from France it would be “a bit of a neutral decision” for Sonny. But no, his loyalty is clear.
Dowling has a French family staying at the farm and despite promising not to whisper sweet French nothings to Sonny, French supporter Raphael Terris told the Dominion Post he did his best to ensure a French win this morning.
“We tried but we are not sure he understood. He doesn’t speak French,” Terris said.
“We gave him some wine but it wasn’t enough.”
Dowling said she has faith in him.
“He’s a special guy and I think when you’re a special guy you tend to have a few gifts to make up for the things you haven’t got – and there’s a few things he hasn’t got.”
Sonny is the latest in a line of psychic animals which have been used to predict sporting events. The German octopus, Paul, successfully chose winners in the FIFA World Cup.
