As you can imagine, since it was NZ vs Aussie, there is much rivalry and people get pretty excited. We were surprised how many people we saw during the day and at the game in Christchurch who had obviously flown in from Australia! The game was also part of the Tri-Nations Cup (which New Zealand ultimately wound up winning). It is a series of rugby matches between New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Since the streets were closed off from the city to the stadium, that pretty much was exactly in our way from home to the game, we decided to do as the city recommended and walk with the crowd down the closed off streets to the game. It was about 2 miles but it really did not feel that long when you were walking with a large group. Apparently, the walk was led by Canterbury native, Phil Keoghan, the host of The Amazing Race.
The stadium is pretty nice and we had decent seats. We decided before we made it to our seats that we should get some refreshments. The way the sold drinks was much different than what we are used to in the States. You enter a room through a turn-style where there are multiple refrigerators like you would see in a convenience store filled with 4 packs of beer! It seemed like the standard thing to do was to grab a 4 pack and take it to your seat so we decided to follow the Kiwis lead on that. It was enough to last us the whole game, solving the ever-present dilemma of who is going to get up to get the next round :)
We made our way to the seats and there was some entertainment happening on the field. Our seats were in the perfect place to get a bird's eye view.
After announcing the players and singing both national anthems (New Zealand's anthem is sung in both English and Maori) the teams lined up on opposing sides of the half - it was time for the Haka!!!! For those of you who do not know what the Haka is, it is a traditional Maori dance that is a greeting, a war chant and a challenge. We video taped it that evening for you all to see. The All Blacks do the Haka before every game. It is also funny to watch the opposing team just standing there watching them do this dance.
Once the game started it was difficult for Jocelyn to grasp the concept that the clock never stops - not even when someone is injured!! The All Blacks started off strong with the first score but this was quickly countered as the Wallabies scored off of an All Blacks mistake.
This was however not a sign of how things would go because New Zealand dominated the remainder of the first half. As the second half started, so did the rain which resulted in sloppy play by both teams and very little scoring. The end result was the All Blacks winning the game which made everyone in Christchurch very happy. It was not nearly as rowdy though as we expected but again, since there is no stopping of the clock, it is a shorter game, giving people less time to get wasted.
Jocelyn learned that she really likes watching rugby (or, "the rugby" as people say here) and we hope to go to more games while we are here.
