The NZ Rugby Experience
Nothing happening tonight, so I thought it was a perfect oppotunity to do something I hadn’t gotten to do in my 2 prior trips to NZ: take in a live game of rugby!
It didn’t start out too well, as my chosen path to the stadium took me within about 150 yards of it, but allowed me to go no farther. The train tracks run right past the stadium and there is no walkway there; you must cross the tracks about 1/2 mile away and then take the opposite path.
Herded up to the ticket queues and had a distinct “Office Space” moment: 4 lines, I choose the shortest. This line, of course, turns out to be the slowest. I shift the one next to me which is going about 4X as fast. I get close and then it stalls and I see the guy I was behind in the other line go right by me, as well as the 3-4 people that were formerly behind me. I guess it’s to be expected, but I finally got my ticket.
It’s a little interesting that ticket pricing is a bit different than American stadiums. It’s actually cheaper to sit closer to the field; it’s considered “uncovered” vs. “covered”. I guess that flows from the fact that it rains a good bit here and people are willing to pay a premium to be in a spot where you won’t get drenched should the sky open on you.
It didn’t look like rain, so I went with uncovered, although it was quite chilly, even for this Minnesota boy. By the time I got settled in, the game was going already and the home team behind.
Being in the corner of the field, I took a few shots when the action came my way. The home team is in black. You can also see the opposing player doing a face plant as he scores a “try”, which is touching the ball to the ground in the end zone. Rugby is a ROUGH game.
This guy gave me a beer. They sell them in four packs here and coming back for the second half, he mistakenly sat in the row in front of me and thought someone had taken his 2 other beers. When he realized that I hadn’t taken them, he gave one to me. Cool!!
That’s about all the pictures I got, since the batteries really don’t do well when it’s cold. I had a great time, even by myself. The home team won, so that makes it more enjoyable. I highly recommend taking in rugby for anyone who visits.