The Scarisbrick Column - Rugby in New Zealand

Neil enjoyed a long association with the Club but decided to head for the never setting sun shores of New Zealand in February 2006. Neil has agreed to become the Club's Rugby Correspondent in place of John Murphy who is obviously enjoying himself so much that the last we heard from him was in 2001!! See  Murphy

25th December 2007

Merry Christmas to all. The talk of failure in the world cup, is now over. Talk of French dirty work long forgotten , even the Manager has been reinstated, despite calls for his resignation and even calls for him to be exiled to France. For such a small country it looks for its Sportsman to be world beaters. When the Americas cup was not won the tabloids were full the next time!!

 Five sports dominate Rugby Union and League, Cricket, Netball, and sailing, But football is starting to take hold, David Beckham and his squad paid a visit and football mania took over 34.000 paid to see golden bollocks. As in England the rugby posts are coming down and local clubs are finding it harder to get the youngsters coming through.

Its xmas morning here sun blazing we are going for a BBQ on the Beach with friends, But xmas its hard to get used to.

I watch the games here when I can but I cant pronounce a lot of the names and I don’t have the same feeling of belonging to the club as I did in Verwwod.

That’s the winging Pom. bit over. Lifestyle is good, people friendy and just enjoying this new life.

Hope to see you all soon the club looks in good shape best of luck in the Dorset Plate competition.

Neil

23rd May 2006

Hi again guys.
The pictures and match report of the memorial game were great. The old boys front row ugly and awesome. I did manage to get tickets for the game against the chiefs a while ago. Just to set the scene the main road into Wellington is mainly single lane. You can't detour due to the geography of the end of the Island so, although we are only 80kilometers from the Capital, the journey can take nearly two hours at peak time and Friday night was peak time!

So we drove south towards Wellington and caught a train at a place called Paraparam (lots of places in NZ have Maori names).Now this train was the express into the Capital. Only 60k to go took over an hour. By the time we got there it was packed just like the tube in London..A mass of steamy black and yellow. Ooh did I not mention it was **ssing down.
The station was the terminus for the area. 10 platforms and a sea of people walking to the station about half a mile away. The sound and atmosphere was great - horns and rattles mixed in with the sound of cow bells?? The Chiefs hail  from an area around Hamilton, about midway up the North Island, a strong rural area hence the cow bells.We managed to get into the stadium about half an hour be KO. The West Pack Stadium looks from a distance like a huge cake tin. Tin because it has a corrugated metal skin arround it. Great facilities inside. We picked up the obligatory six pack before taking our seats.
Plenty of razz ma tazz before and during the game. The cheer leaders were a real 1st XV dressed in very small pieces of yellow and black cloth, lovely. A yellow Hurricane plane drove round the pitch with the sound of a throaty merlin engine coming over the tannoy. There was some brave guy flying a model yellow plane inside the stadium. Bet the insurance premium was high.

The game was tough. All Blacks crunching All Blacks. Three carried off - one out for at least two months. Message for Robin -  the Hurricanes Hooker carried the ball over three times, was he up to your standard? Collins -  they call him the sleeper because he puts the opposition out. It was a great game which the Hurricanes just won. It had stopped raining when we left but did not get home till 1am - a noisy train back with everyone partying.

Will keep you informed about the next game from West Pack

Yours Neil

6th May 2006

First, I was unable to get tickets for the Hurricanes game against The Crusaders, but all was not lost as I was able to take in local games in Levin on Easter Saturday. This was the club's 75th year.
By the way the club is called Levin Athletic RFC and they share their ground with Levin Wanderers.
So I wrapped up well with sun glasses shorts and a Verwood T shirt. The crowd were knowledgeable and well behaved and most had their chillies with them stuffed full of beer. I introduced myself as foreign correspondent for the esteemed club of Verwood and then I was in, moving from one chilly box to the next rather unsteadly

What of the games? The celebs were what I was after. A quick chat with Grant Fox over a tinny was good but I was drawn away by a wailing noise. For those of you that have attended games at Cardiff Arms Park and latterly the Millenium Stadium, as an English supporter you hear this barritone and tenor wail from the the opposition.

I could not believe it Messrs Hoggins and Davies would have wept. A Welsh touring team from Welshpool no less, who were trying to answer the Hakka. It did not come off, but a valiant attempt from the boys from the valleys or where ever they come from. Max Boyce was rumoured to have put them through their paces. I did not know he was a coach? Even so, the boys in red, after a good evening the night before and a robust breakfast of lava cake and and a few beer,s went down to the local lads by 19 to 5. Spirited defence but they did not have Merv the swerve on board. Seriously the coach comes from Levin but is Welshpools coach all because he fell in love with a girl from the area.

Later, as I weaved my way unsteadly around the park, Levin A team and and the Wanderers were at it -  very good rugby but the Wanderers lost by 16 points. Loved the games and enjoying my time so far. I could not walk to the car so just made it to the Bar, what luck.

Look out for Hurricaines against Chiefs and who brings cow bells

28th March 2006

I'm off to catch my first taste of Top flight NZ Rugby on Saturday when Hurricanes play Crusaders in Wellington in a Super 14 Match which is now sold out. The final tickets for the match were sold on Thursday, 23 March confirming a capacity crowd of 34,000 for the match at the Westpac Stadium. Depending on round seven results, next week’s match could pit the two leading teams in this year’s Rebel Sport Super 14 competition against each other.

See  www.hurricanes.co.nz/
 

4th March 2006

Hi everyone. The  mother of all storms hit and all power lost including our phone line.

I'm eagerly awaiting for the start of the local season on 31st March which is the first first game for my local club the Levin Wanderers. The ground up to last night has been so hard.

Ttraining sessions that I have seen have been very ferocious. Boots wer worn for the first time Thursday -  ouch says it all. I'm warming to the local beer TUI  I  don't know what it means but I am sure I can find out if ever I was foolish enough to ask. Sad to see the score on last week's game. Still, as always, the boys never go head down.

Wish the boys well from me. I will try and keep you apprised to the local scene and some of the larger teams if I am lucky enough to get tickets.

Take care all, and in Robin's phrase, oval balls to you all.

Levin

Levin is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Horowhenua district. Levin is situated on State Highway 1, 90km north of Wellington and 50km south of Palmerston North. Lake Horowhenua lies two kilometres to the west of the town. The town was named after a director of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company. The name is a variation of the Jewish clan Levi.

Levin is a service centre for the surrounding rural area, plus a centre of light manufacturing. According to the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings, the resident population was 19,044, a decrease of 1.4% since the 1996 census. A considerable proportion of these (20.4%) were over the age of 65, a considerably higher percentage than the national average.

Neil lives in a rural area lying about 4km south from the centre of Levin on the main highway SH1. There are Mountains to the east about 5km away which at this moment the highest have snow on.
The beach lies on the western side also about 5km away.

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Carlos Spencer (sportsman)
 

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