International Rugby

Abstain for the All Blacks.

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2017-09-02 at 12.26.18

Sean Fitzpatrick driving pink fist-shaped dodgem car.

In a week which saw unusually low and high pressure systems combine to suck air straight up to New Zealand from the Antarctic and heavy snow fell across the South Island, lower North Island and Auckland for the first time in 76 years, a deep PR anticyclone visited Telecom NZ and looks likely to hang around for some time. The NZ media is looking on in disbelief and outrage at Telecom NZ ‘Abstain for the All Blacks’ campaign, which, while not yet officially sanctioned and scheduled (if sanctioned) to start next week has been (intentionally or unintentionally) leaked. Continue reading →

Māori Challenge

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
thumb_June 2010 Wales in Queentown 007_1024

Welsh team paddle a traditional waka on the Waikato river in Hamilton.

I knocked-off work early this afternoon and travelled down to Hamilton with a lady from Tourism NZ to join the Wales squad on their day off in Hamilton. Through my contacts in  Tourism NZ I had arranged for the squad to paddle a waka (Māori war canoes) down the Waikato river  Continue reading →

Wales v ABs, Dunedin.

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
thumb_June 2010 - Wales Tour 116_1024

Wales face the last haka at the House of Pain.

Up at 05.45 for a 07.45 flight to the Dunedin. The flight was uneventful apart from the presence of half of NZ’s media. In Dunedin we checked into the Living Space hotel which perhaps could be better named ‘only just enough living space’ hotel as the room
is literally one and a half times the size of the bed and we have to orchestrate movements before executing them (but a bargain at £32 per night).  Continue reading →

With Buck at Ellerslie Raceday

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2017-09-30 at 16.32.21

Always happy to help when people have Rugby questions. Here I provide Buck Shelford with the benefit of my rugby genius.

Today my very good friend Sam Walsh invited me to the NZ Rugby Foundation’s charity race day at Auckland’s Ellerslie racecourse (the charity raises money for injured players and other worthy causes). The Radio Network, which Sam works for, had a table on the Cuvée enclosure which is where the great and the good hang out and I half expect to appear in the background of celebrity gossip magazines photographs in the next week or so.

Continue reading →

Eden Park Redevelopment

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
thumb_all blacks v oz july 09 023_1024

Haka at Eden Park with a mean-looking Ma’a Nonu.

For a Welshman temporarily living in New Zealand, international rugby fixtures at Eden Park are the first thing booked into a busy diary. And, with our youngest daughter staying with friends for the evening, we head head to Eden Park with our $50 tickets (£20) for the un-covered stands at the Cricket Avenue end of the to watch the All Blacks v Australia in a crucial game which both sides need to win to win the Tri-Nations tournament. Torrential rain is forecasted  Continue reading →

Rugby World Cup – Unlucky 13

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2016-05-26 at 17.19.12

Count down clock at the Britomart, downtown Auckland.

It goes without saying that Rugby is massive in New Zealand. 5000 people attended the All Blacks last training session before they departed to France or the Rugby World Cup and a further 2000 people turn-up at the airport for their departure with the Air New Zealand ground crew doing the haka before they took-off on an Air New Zealand aeroplane with a specially commissioned black paint job.  Continue reading →

Samoa: Part 3 – Goodby Samoa, thanks for having us !

/ mootopia / Leave a comment
thumb_Samoa #2 016_1024

New outfits bought in Apia market.

We head back from Savai’i to Opolu and Aggie Greys. After the 3 hour journey we have a dip in the pool before visiting the two markets in Apia. It is very warm despite the shade of the canopy over the market stalls. The girls choose Samoan dresses from the market which will be worn at the Samoan cultural dinner that we are attending that evening.

Continue reading →