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 July 14-20.
This week involved the huge first round of the playoffs, against the top-seeded Hutt Old Boys. They were undefeated coming into the game, but we felt like we had a real shot at shocking them. They started the game guns blazing, jumping to a 19-0 lead. After a serious comeback, we were in the game late in the second half but ended up falling short. It was a really tough loss, but it was hard to fault our gameplay, they just handled their own game well and never let us score easily. Despite the loss we still have the consolation bracket next week, so I was happy to learn my season wasn’t fully over yet.
After the game Shea and I went straight to the airport, as we had a flight to Auckland to catch. In Auckland, we got the chance to go to the All Blacks versus South Africa game. This was something I had been looking forward to practically since arriving in New Zealand when we bought our tickets, and it lived up to the hype. The stands were packed for this classic match. New Zealand played incredibly well and seemed to silence a lot of doubt that had been brewing in the last few years. It was the first international game I’d ever been to, and I had an amazing time. After the game, we stuck around to watch the players sign autographs, and even got a photo with Jordie Barrett! The whole experience was similar to a professional football game, but it had its own flavor, with a lot more communal feel. There wasn’t the same hate between different fan bases, and the players after the game felt so much more accessible than football stars. It felt like a really great example of the difference you see often in the community emphasis put on rugby here versus football’s performance-focused nature in the USA.
After the game, Shea and I rented a car and drove back down the North Island over the next three days. Some highlights included going to the All Blacks museum in Auckland, swimming in hot-springs in Rotorua, seeing Huka falls, driving the desert highway, and seeing one of the first sunrises in the world in Hawkes Bay. It was a gorgeous drive, and I felt like I’ve gotten to experience most of the country having driven both islands nearly tip to tail now. After so much driving through farmland, I fully believe New Zealand has more sheep than people. For every town you went through there was an hour of nonstop sheep, grazing in hilly pasture after hilly pasture.
