Rugby

Kia Ora! We have been to two rugby games. Rugby Southland, a local support organization, had a deal. Buy a game ticket and they would provide a free bus to the game in Dunedin. We continue to check out the things the Kiwis love - like harness racing and now rugby. This seemed like a good opportunity so we bought tickets. Saturday afternoon we boarded the bus at the Ascot Park Hotel along with about 50 other people. Dunedin is 3 hours each way so it was a big time investment. We arrived at Carisbrook Stadium at 6:30 PM, one hour before kickoff, and time for "dinner" before the game. The Kiwi Consort brought a PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) sandwich from home, scoffing at the junk food served in such venues. My feeling is that the ambiance, including the junk food, is part of the whole experience. Remembering hot dogs at baseball games, I opted for game food. I ordered a hot dog. I was taken back when I was handed a corn dog, with the option of having the top dipped in a spicy sauce. Obviously the concept of hot dog is something else here. It was greasy enough to keep me from feeling hunger all night. Some of our busmates reappeared wearing war paint to support their team. One man had a wooden sword, fake vest, and a cape in team colors. And he was our age! The Southland Highlanders were playing the Chieftains. There was some silly pregame entertainment. When the Chieftains appeared on the field, so did a large muscular long haired man wearing only a kilt and boots and waving a large sword. He is the archetypal Highlander brandishing his sword at the "enemy". He circled their huddle menacingly. I kept trying to apply American football terminology and concepts to the game, but it just doesn't translate. Rugby moves a lot faster, and the players do not wear protective gear. Scrums are frequent in which 3 players from each side lock arms over the shoulders and face each other. They crouch down and the entire rest of the team on each side circles in back of the front 3, all of them holding on to each other. Then it is like a reverse tug of war, each side pushing against the other. Eventually, the ball squirts out the side from somewhere in the scrum, a player from the side where it emerges grabs it and runs like the devil is behind him. And the devil is, in the form of every member of the opposing team. Quickly the guy with the ball laterals it to another player. He runs until pursuing players threaten to tackle him and laterals it to someone else and so on. Or so it appeared. There was a lot of kicking the ball back and forth. All in all, this was a pretty back and forth, lackluster game won by the Highlanders on two penalty kicks. The Highlanders and their fans were psyched. They are a bit of a losing team this season. After we had purchased these tickets, our friend and colleague Kate McIntosh informed us the Highlanders were playing the next week in Invercargill. I wished she had told us that before we got the tickets for the Dunedin game. Not to worry, she said, we could go again and she would provide the tickets. And so the next week we were back at the stadium with Kate and Alistair McIntosh, in Invercargill. We ate at home before the game; the food was better. The game was more exciting even though the Highlanders came out short this time. The younger fans participated in sword play after the game. Kate and Alistair's son Jamie is a "prop" for the national team, the All Blacks. A prop is comparable to the center in football. He is the big middle man in the front of the scrum. When the All-Blacks are off season, he plays for the Highlanders. But he is currently injured, so his job is to give a little personal attention to the high flyers in box seats. That wasn't us, but I met Jamie and got my picture taken with him, as promised. I think that about does it for the sports. There doesn't seem to be any local cricket though the national team keeps getting creamed by the Indians (Go, Indians!) right now. Netball and basketball are out of season. And the big golf tournament in Queenstown is over. Tiger wasn't here but a bunch of lower ranking Americans showed well. Cheers, Kiwi Traveler