Poneke Blog, Week 5: All-Blacks and Animals

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 June 1-7.

After officially spending a full month in New Zealand, I was pleased to find that Wellington still had plenty of new sights and experiences in store. This week I visited the Wellington Zoo. I felt a little out of place, as I went on a weekday so the only other people at the zoo were elementary school kids on a field trip, but it was overall a really cool experience. A couple of the habitats were built as little islands with moats rather than enclosures, which I thought was really cool and more humane. It does ruin your chances at a good photo of the animals, but I managed to get one of a gorgeous snow leopard regardless.

Additionally, we are now into the meat of the season, playing games every weekend. This weekend we faced off against the team at the top of the table, the Hutt Old Boys. It was a back-and-forth game, and a late surge put us within striking distance, but unfortunately, we ended up losing. We did get a bonus point for scoring at least four tries which is really important for seeding as the playoffs draw nearer.

After the game came the highlight of the week, as we went into town to watch the Hurricanes vs Chiefs game. The game itself was electric, finishing with a late game comeback by the home team Hurricanes, resulting in a huge win in their last game before the playoffs. More importantly, it was Dane Cole’s final home game with the team. The legendary All Blacks hooker and Wellington native is actually an alumnus of Poneke, so the whole club came out to support him. He comes to many Poneke home matches, and two of our coaches actually played with him. He’s a real staple around the club and represents the strong community values of such a historic club. After the game, we got a chance to do something really special in his honor. All the Poneke supporters performed a haka in his honor, demonstrating their support and passion for this storied pacific islander tradition. This was one of the most memorable things I’ve seen in my time here, and it really demonstrates the massive cultural importance of rugby here. I was honored to witness such an important moment in such a legendary player’s career, and I will never forget the passion of that moment. Rugby’s roots in New Zealand truly do run deep.

Here is a link to a video of this incredible moment: