Opening Day

Well, this post will compress the first half of a weekend of rugby that included the opening ceremony, seven televised games and one live game.

So the first question was - where should you watch rugby in NZ?  The correct answer is "in a rugby club". 

Having been tipped off by Chris Erikson (thanks Chris), we descended on Pirates Rugby Club in St Kilda, Dunedin. There is a long history to this club - in fact several years longer than the state of Western Australia has had self government - and the statement in the second paragraph of their website "Pirates is a very friendly rugby club located at Hancock Park in St Kilda, Dunedin" is personally verified! 

The front door at Pirates

So we headed down to Starfish on Friday night for lamb burgers and Emersons before the opening ceremony.  All the cafes and restaurants in the area were packed with rugby fans sporting the colours of several nations.  Arriving at Pirates, we seated ourselves in the auditorium, got the necessary supplies (four cans of beer - a minimum order no less), met the neigbours (Kevin and Steve plus their deserving partners from Adelaide, whose names, along with many others, have since fallen by the wayside due to too many late nights, barely adequate amounts of beer and old age) and settled down to watch an excellent opening ceremony, followed by a good opening match, with Tonga taking it right up to the All Blacks.  There were about 200 people crammed into "the Auditorium"  and about another 100 or so watching on screens closer to the bar and the atmosphere was fabulous.

"The Auditorium" at Pirates between games

Some eight of the 200 fans in The Auditorium wore Tongan colours, but one lady was having an each way bet as she wore her Tongan jersey over an All Blacks shirt.

The final whistle sounded but we stayed for the raffle draw (free tickets) and, for the second time in 30 years, I won something! A four pack of Speights beer!  So we shared it around before a brisk walk back to car, and up the hill for a quick cuppa and bed.

A rainy Saturday in Dunedin

Saturday dawned sunny and clear and a full day of rugby was scheduled - four matches, an hour between each and the last match of the day was to be England vs Argentina live at the brand new Otago Stadium.

A bus was available from Pirates to the ground, but we wanted to check out some other bars so we headed to Salt Bar for the first match (Scotland vs Romania) and I reacquainted myself with Speight's Dark.  After a shaky win to Scotland, we girded our loins and headed back to Pirates for Fiji vs Namibia (great game) and the first half of France vs Japan.

At half time, we climbed on the bus with about 20 others and headed off for Otago Stadium. The back row of the bus was in fine (singing) voice.

First view of the stadium

The stadium is VERY impressive.  It is fully enclosed, with real grass and it seats 30,000 fans and was constructed at a cost of NZD198 million.  Not bad when you consider we currently have an uncompleted mouldy 14,000 seater tennis stadium in Perth at a cost of $AUD600 million.  As you approach at night, the view of the stadium is spectacular. The approach roads were filled with fans, many decorated in English or Argentinian face paint and wigs and we filed through the gates into the stands.

Fiona in the stands

The place was awash with English and Argentinian flags and as the crowd gathered, the singing and dancing slowly started to increase and this was emphasised by the closed  roof. Many of the Dunedin local lads were supporting Argentina because of the somewhat unfathomable decision by the English management to adopt an all black strip for a World Cup in New Zealand.  Talk about putting yourself behind the eight ball with the locals!

Here is a quick shot of Fiona in the stands (supporting Georgia). We had a fabulous view of the playing field. We were soon surrounded by England fans on Fi's left and Dunedin locals supporting Argentina on our right.  The shot below is a panoramic view of what we saw!

The inside of the stadium

The pre-match entertainment was the New Zealand Army Band, who were excellent musicians and dancers and kept the crowd entertained while the players warmed up.  Then the choir emerged and finally the players took the field.  The noise was deafening, in fact the noise was so deafening that Fi didn't use her referee radio due to the feedback loop - whoever designed the stadium designed the acoustics brilliantly.  Anthems were sung enthusiatically by both sides (some of the words being sung by NZ Argentinian supporters were suspiciously like ooo-aaaah) and the game got underway.

To quote one rugby writer, "It was not pretty, but, heavens, it was engrossing, and it ended with many if-onlys."  It is rare, at this level of rugby, to see eleven missed penalties or conversions in a match, especially when six of them were missed by Johnny Wilkinson.  In the end, England won although not by much.  A great first live game to start our "eight live games" tournament.

The bus home enabled us to reacquaint ourselves with Richard and Steve (see above) and their partners and to meet some locals as well.  After waving goodbye, we drove up the hill and collapsed into bed.