One of the things I have never done on my visits to New Zealand is attend a rugby match. It so happens that the Wellington Lions are playing a home game on the Saturday of Au Contraire. Kick off is at 5:30, and I’m on a panel from 4:00 – 5:00, but Wellington isn’t that big a city so getting to the game sounds feasible. It does mean missing Sean Williams’ GoH speech, but I think if I buy him enough chocolate he’ll still speak to me.
FYI, the Lions are the local Wellington side, not the Super Rugby franchise Hurricanes. The squad does boast a number of Hurricanes players, but the top stars such as Cory Jane, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Piri Weepu are all on duty with the All Blacks and unlikely to play. On the other hand, Rodney So’oialo and Hosea Gear didn’t make the All Blacks squad, and in Julian Savea the Lions have one of the most exciting young players in world rugby. The Lions’s opponents, Northland, are having a good season and are scoring very heavily, so it should be a cracking game.
Because this is a Lions game and not the Hurricanes tickets for the Cake Tin stadium are easy to get and reasonably priced at between NZ$20 and NZ$35.
Anyone up for an expedition?
Damn, I would so be there if I was, y’know, going to be there. Is the stadium really called the Cake Tin, or is that just an affectionate nickname?
Well there are people who refer to it as the Westpac Stadium, but that’s just silly corporate sponsorship stuff. Most people call it the Cake Tin, and a quick glance at the photo on Wikipedia should tell you why.
Increasingly, soccer fans refer to it as “The Ring of Fire” (as the home of the Wellington Phoenix).
Trumped by rugby! My worst nightmare.
It’s going to cost you a LOT of chocolate, Cheryl. 🙂