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2014 All Black tour Diary
In November 2014 for Williment's Sports Tours, along with my wife Anne, I traveled to the UK leading a rugby supporters tour group on the the All Blacks tour. Here is a tour diary.
7th and 8th Day in Nanjing
20 August 2014
And so the Rugby 7s at the these 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games simply raced over another two days to its conclusion today. No time for me to write a diary yesterday but here goes, back in the hotel now that the whole thing is over. Read more »
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Fifth & Sixth day in Nanjing
18 August 2014
Nanjing Diary Day Five and Day Six Read more »
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Fourth Day in Nanjing
16 August 2014
Some Random thoughts at the end of the build up days here in Nanjing as we reflect on what we know about this place and settle down for the broadcast experience ahead at the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games. Read more »
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Third day in Nanjing
15 August 2014
Today (Friday 15th August in Nanjing) - I report on our first serious eating experience in this great city. How did we fare? Read on...its was a *verrry* interesting experience! Read more »
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'Youth' Commentators in Nanjing; From left; Warren Boland (Brisbane), Keith Quinn (NZ) and John Burgess (England)
Second day in Nanjing
14 August 2014
Today (Thursday 14th August in Nanjing) was a day to acclimatise to life for the best part of the next three weeks in this huge Chinese city. Nanjing is the sixth largest city in this massive country with its population a mere 8.2 million! Read more »
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First day in Nanjing
13 August 2014
You all know probably what a long flight is like. Today's from Wellington-Auckland-Guangzhou-Nanjing was little different to the norm. Tedious boredom, bad movies (surprisingly), not much sleep, food OK and a rush from terminal to terminal not really sure if I was headed in the right direction. Read more »
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Every day there is Rugby History 27 November 2010
Click to show Richie McCaw's All Blacks clinch NZs fourth UK Grand Slam.
Yet again the ABs win 4 Home Union tests in 4 Saturdays. On this day Wales are beaten 37-25.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show INTER-ISLAND MATCH
INTER-ISLAND MATCH
This was a game which was begun in New Zealand in 1897 and which became an annual one (with the exception of 1930 and the war years) until 1986, between teams representing the two main islands of New Zealand.
The inter-island series, North Island against South Island, was, through the 1920s right up to the early 1970s, consistently up to international standard. In its heyday, the game was eagerly looked forward to by everyone in New Zealand as it featured a match that often had the look of New Zealand ‘A’ against New Zealand ‘B’ (the ‘A’ team being the side which won!). Sometimes the game did officially double as an All Black trial.
In the 1970s lack of promotion of the game led to loss of interest. The New Zealand Rugby Union, after years of playing the inter-island game at major grounds, started moving it to lesser towns. Public support fell away and towards the end the game was marked by the number of top players who declared their unavailability rather than by those who did turn out. It was sad for New Zealand traditionalists when the match was abolished in 1987 and replaced by a three-way regional trial series featuring teams from three new zones, Northern, Central and Southern.
The last annual game in 1986 was typical of the decline of the North v South game. Played in the smasll town of Oamaru in the South Island, the game had a local college match as its curtain-raiser. When the college game finished, most of the crowds of local schoolchildren drifted away home, leaving the inter-island match to go ahead in front of a much smaller audience. The North Island won the game 22–10, ending the annual series with 49 wins. South had won 26 times and there were three drawn games.
The North-South game did return for special one-off games in 1995 and 2012. The former was an All Black trial and the latter was a fundraising game for the financially troubled Otago Rugby Union.
Ironically the inter-zone series which had followed the cancelled North-South series in 1986 had only three seasons of play before it, too, folded through lack of interest.
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
Who captained the British and Irish Lions on tour to New Zealand in 1977?
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.