Tom H

Looks like no south island tests for when the British Lions give the All Blacks a dam good 3-0 series thrashing.


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I'd have thought they would have done a test fixture in Dunedin. No doubt the return flight cost to the North Island for these test games will be the same as a return trip to Los Angeles. It was the same with the cricket world cup, seeing Wellington/Auckland return flights costing a bomb when the Black Caps were playing.


Watching the Lions against a super rugby team is no where near the same as watching them against the All Blacks.


No doubt the fans coming over will get accused of being racist when Lions, Lions gets chanted during the haka.

BEVS

Poo! I was holding out that perhaps Dunedin might get something.

Yup! It will cost many arms and legs to get to a North Island game. We know . We did this back in 2005. It is possible with much military style advance planning and the atmosphere from the Lions is wonderful which perplexes the AB fans no end. That in itself is worth it.

I may have to start a fund.

Tom H

It's good that they'll be playing all the super rugby franchises. I may go and watch them against the Highlanders down at the Forsythe Barr stadium. I think it's probably to do with capacity that they've made the matches in Wellington and Auckland only as the Forsythe Barr can only hold up to 31,000 I think.

I'll try Wellington as i'm not really impressed with Eden Park. I like to be in enclosed areas, especially when raining. Eden Park is a better watch for cricket when the glorious 70 degree baking sun hits you full pelt. Joyful cricket with a few crates of beer - lovely.

I'll have to make a note in the diary for when the flights become available, though if like the CWC, it'll be cheaper to drive up to Picton and then catch the ferry across.

Woodlea

Ha ha ha - like last time!! Don't forget they are the British and Irish Lions, some may consider it racist to omit the Irish bit!

BEVS

They are indeed the British & Irish Lions.

We were right there in 2005 when that illegal spear tackle took O'Driscoll out right in front of us despite the linesman trying to intervene.

A stunned silence for a few seconds all round before the AB fans did the jeering thing. Was horrible TBH and quite ruined the feel of the game . Not from a score point of view but from lack of spirit which a festival Lions tour should mean.

The Lions fans around us were quite nonplussed by the behaviour of the AB fans . Having cans of beer, scarves , 'try' banners shoved right into their faces. We were embarrassed by that from our adopted country. I stress here that I am not speaking of the entire stadium. I am speaking just of the area around us.

We also saw the Lions in Wellington but this time ensured we were for the most part away from AB fans as the jeering thing is simply un-enjoyable.

Still. I am hoping that lessons were learnt and sportsmanship will be visible both with the teams and all fans.

Am thinking we may get to a NI game perhaps somehow.

Tom H

Fixtures TBC are as follows

3 June - Provincial Union Team (Whangarei)
7 June - Blues
10 June - Crusaders
13 June - Highlanders
17 June - Maori
20 June - Chiefs
24 June - First test at Eden Park, Auckland
27 June - Hurricanes
1 July - Second test at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
8 July - Third test at Eden Park, Auckland

Looks like a week in Wellington to be booked instead of a trip to Dunedin. Watch them against the Hurricanes instead

Hopefully the ABs will have a bit more respect this time and not go out to deliberately injure a member of the Lions. Brian O'Driscoll hasn't forgotten the last tour in 2005. Shame he won't be there to score the winning points this time round.


Oh and Clive Woodward doesn't do a Glenn McGrath style prediction. There's going to be a lot of hungry new All Blacks there, playing since the likes of Carter, McCaw, Conrad Smith etc are retiring from international rugby after the world cup.

bearskin

Lions 2005 is still the best sport thing I've done in NZ - way better than the RWC in 2011. The atmosphere created by the 'true sport fans' (not the ones in black BTW) was superb.

Lions fans utterly showed up the local ones - even the NZ media ran stories afterwards about it, and they are normally shove up their own la-la land bootys.

Blade Down Under

That'll be a 5 week holiday sorted when they're over. I'll enjoy seeing them test themselves against the super rugby franchises. Much better for these players than going up against a provincial like Canterbury etc.

It'll be a fabulous event. But no one beats New Zealand on their own patch. I think the last time that happened was England in 2002??? We would need the likes of Martin Johnson to come out of retirement to beat them. Just look how they outplayed England at Twickenham when they only had 14 men. Some of the best rugby I've ever seen.

BEVS

We absolutely agree.

Tom H

Looks like no more All Black matches in the South Island from 2017.

Steve Tew wants them to be played in the big stadia only. From the sounds of that, it'll probably mean the majority of games to be played at Eden Park, with may be a few games played at the cake tin. It seems the argument goes on competing against Europe to keep the AB stars. Whilst understandable, I'll be shocked to see if the NZRU can ever afford the expensive salaries, sponsorship etc that French rugby clubs in particular can offer the All Blacks. Plus there is much more competition and more games for them I think (Heineken Cup, French Leagues and French knock out cups). Also less travelling than going to Argentina and South Africa as the super rugby 15 tends to have.

I personally wouldn't be too bothered about the All Blacks playing in Wellington as that's the capital and I think the Cake Tin is far better than Eden Park. The negative is that you just know when All Black weekend matches come round, a return ticket from the SI to the NI will be similar prices to a return from Christchurch to Los Angeles. I suppose that's the annoying thing is the extra costs that come with it. I was hearing them argue the case about England, Australia and the other nations playing a match at a home stadium in the capital. Yes that is the case but the cost to get there and back is reasonable (and you have choice if you want to stay for a weekend there). When the Australians play in Sydney, travel to there from Brisbane I believe is standard pricing. The fares don't rack up so much like they do here.

southerner

Too pessimistic in my view.

I would expect one 4N game a year in the South Island going forward, and (except for Lions/World Cup years) normally one other June (inbound tour) test. Probably alternated between Christchurch and Dunedin, with Dunedin getting preference towards Category A (Australia, England, SA) tests due to its higher stadium capacity (assuming Christchurch won't be affording a new stadium for 10 or more years).

Note Dunedin stadium is best viewing experience of all the NZ stadia, and its 30k capacity is only marginally behind that of Wellington.

Tom H

That's the argument a lot of Dunedin residents are saying and one I agree with. Dunedin is the only big enough stadium where you are close to the field. Eden Park and the Cake Tin have the cricket bowl design in order to accommodate cricket matches as well as rugby/football matches.


I hope they do at least have one tri nation series game at Dunedin so that at least there's one South Island match that the residents can attend. I can't understand why against Argentina for example (no disrespect to the Pumas) can this be held at Dunedin regularly. They're not the big patch and is one game where ticket sales won't be in high demand instead of South Africa or Australia. Think matches against Italy for the Six Nations.


I understand Auckland or Wellington hosting the South Africa and Bledisloe Cup series regularly.

andrewwales

sorry to hijack this thread but looking for the possibility of trying to get some test tickets sorted as myself and my then wife will be coming over for our HONEYMOON!!!
I know it maybe easier to get some unicorn poo however if you don't ask you don't get.
I was also luck to be in oz back in 2013 and really looking forward to my first visit to new Zealand.
am I able to purchase tickets from the uk if I have them delivered to a new Zealand address?