Each summer, Michigan Rugby sends one or two select players to New Zealand to train with our partner club, Poneke FC. Shea Loughnane and Luke Zana are there now, and Luke is writing about his experiences abroad each week. This post concerns May 25-31.
This week Shea and I both got to play in a very special game. Each year the Poneke Colts face crosstown rival, the Wellington Axemen Colts in the Misiluni Moananu Memorial Shield Match. This game is in honor of Misiluni Moananu, a player who started his rugby career with the Wellington Axeman, before spending years as a stalwart in the Poneke ranks. His two brothers, Misipalauni and Faatoto coach our team, so the game had immense meaning for our team. After losing the shield last year, there was real pressure to win it back. The game went smoothly, resulting in a shutout win, 26 to 0.
After the game, there was a grill out in the Axemen clubhouse, with some speeches about the importance of the game, and a lot of laughs. At the grill out I had a chance to talk to a former Black Fern (women’s national team player for New Zealand) who expressed the deep roots of all the rugby clubs in New Zealand, showing me a wall of nearly 60 different traveling clubs who had exchanged jerseys with the Wellington Axemen.
Later in the week, I utilized Poneke’s incredible workout facilities to double down on my rugby development. I spent time in the Green Room, a small indoor turf working on my tackling, passing, and offloads. Poneke has access to tons of good rugby equipment, including crash pads for tackling and lots of nice scrummaging machines for the forwards. I also spent some time outside working on kicking. The wind, which Wellington is famous for, can make kick training a bit hard, but it does prepare you well for the difficult weather that rugby is often played in.
I also had the chance to check out a couple of local cafes, which seem to be on nearly every street corner. The food was delicious, but I do miss having salsa as a breakfast topping, which seems to have been swapped for hollandaise nearly everywhere here. Considering I’m not a coffee drinker, the cafe’s appeal can often be lost on me, but they do usually serve delicious baked goods, including my all-time favorite New Zealand food, the meat pie. While everyone else opts for a flat white, I stick to the food. It is bulking season for 15s after all.
