The Naki vs Canterbury
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2009
1
206
354
Trip End
May 28, 2011
Where I stayed
Shoestring Backpackers
New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Weather was still rubbish in the morning, and forecast to be so for the foreseeable future, so walking up Mount Taranaki remained out of the question. Fortunately a welcome diversion presented itself in the form of Taranaki vs Canterbury at New Plymouth' Yarrow Stadium.
Watching a live rugby match in NZ has been on our 'to-do' list since we arrived in the antipodes so we bought some tickets (ensuring they were in the covered bit of the grandstand) and went along.
It was all set to be a exciting match as Canterbury and Taranaki are both pretty big teams (currently 2nd and 3rd respectively in the league) and this year is the 125th anniversary of rugby in Taranaki.
And despite the rain hosing down for the duration of the game it proved to be a good one.
A giant motorised bull named Ferdinand started the proceedings with a circuit of the stadium whilst blowing smoke out of his nostrils. The Canterbury side were then introduced and ran onto the pitch to the 'Barbie Girl' song (guessing this wasn't their anthem of choice), before the home side came on with the far more macho 'Right here, right now'. And then it kicked off.
When Canterbury converted a try within the first 2 minutes of the game we didn't have high hopes for the home side, but they quickly caught up, equalising before the end of the second half and steaming through the rest of the match, eventually beating Canterbury 31-20.
Go the Naki!
