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 15-21.
This week I took advantage of the time off I had on Wednesday to go check out Zealandia, a wildlife sanctuary in the hills above Wellington. The vegetation was extremely dense and full of the ferns from which the All Blacks get their iconic logo. Considering New Zealand is an island, most of the native wildlife is birds, and there were birds galore in the sanctuary. The forest was never silent, as bird calls filled the air no matter where I went. I even got to see one of New Zealand’s staples, the Tahake. Like the Kiwi, it’s a flightless bird that is native to New Zealand. It was once extinct in the wild but due to conservation efforts, it is making a comeback. It has these cool shimmery feathers and a colorful beak, and it was super cool to see. Afterward, I stopped at the gift shop like a classic American tourist, but I was sadly disappointed by the selection of Zealandia memorabilia. Evidently not a major tourist attraction, it was mostly informational books about the flora and fauna so I passed on purchasing anything.
At practice later in the week, we got to do something I’d been dying to learn; the Haka. Poneke has their own club haka, and our team got a chance to learn the chant and movements in preparation for the playoffs which are coming up. It was super cool to get a translated look at the meaning behind this traditional Maori ritual and was the first dance-style class I’ve ever really found myself enjoying. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to perform it before a game.
This weekend was a really important game, as we were sitting pretty low on the table, and we needed to win to keep our playoff hopes alive. In a back and forth battle against Old Boys University we found ourselves down 22-28 in the last two minutes of the game. Finally winning possession deep in our own 22, we broke the line first on one edge, and then the other, going nearly 100 meters to score a last-play try. Our winger centered the ball and let our first five-eighth (the fly-half) kick the go-ahead conversion for the win! It was a gutsy upset win, and the whole team was pretty psyched about it. Our coaches reminded us that we need to keep the win streak going, but they let us relish the big win as well. From here on we are in pretty much must win territory. Survive and advance.
