All Blacks

Another rugby post, I must be hooked! The city is All Black today after the national team beat the visiting British and Irish Lions 48-18 yesterday. The game was held in Wellington at Westpac Stadium, aka "The Cake Tin." It was the best game I'd seen so far in my vast experience with rugby, I think I may understand about 40% of the rules by now.

The city has been gripped with rugby fever all week. The Barmy Army - the 20,000 or so British and Irish fans visiting NZ to watch the games - started arriving early in the week and could be spotted all over in their red and blue windbreakers, along with some men in kilts. They had to park a big cruise ship in Wellington Harbour for additional hotel rooms. Prince William arrived Friday for the game and the papers have been full of exciting stories about how charming he has been to the local waitresses.

Last night they blocked off Courtenay Place (central downtown area of bars and restaurants) to traffic and set up big screen TVs to broadcast the game. It was a carnival atmosphere, especially after the game when the stadium crowd came down for an all night party. I watched in a pub on Courtenay Place with some friends from work.


Crowd watching the game in Courtenay Place