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AB Tour Diary; November 22 2014
What a scene it was when Wales ran out to play New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium.
22 November 2014
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22 2014
What a day to remember today for a very high percentage of the Quinn/Loveridge tour groups who are here in Cardiff. To sit in the stands at Millennium Stadium and watch a New Zealand v Wales rugby match unfold was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most. And even for those of us who have been before it was a super-charged feeling to be back again.
The 70,000 crowd's singing was the best I personally had ever heard. And I first came here 36 years ago!
I wondered whether it might have been because the sound of all the vocalists was amplified because the roof was closed over, or, was it because microphones dangling in front of the Male Voice Choir and Army band helped to raise the volumn's lever? Or was it the shear size of the 100-strong male voice choir who just made it all SEEM better that ever. I loved it all and found myself singing along to the bits that are so familiar. The only black mark on the local organisation came when the male voice stadium announcer said we were 'about to be entertained by 'several May-Owrry' songs by the choir.
The game itself I will review elsewhere on this page. Suffice to say it was a wonderful day. And the 34-16 result helped too (from a Kiwi point of view at least!!
Our group had walked down together from the Hilton Hotel and there was very little crowding along the short route. The hotel was only about 500 metres from the ticket entrance and our people wanted to go early, so we were in place by 3.30pm for the 5.30 kickoff. Never mind, that gave us plenty of time to take in all of the wonder of a Welsh rugby experience.
{FOOTNOTE} The date for this game; November 22 was a reminder that on the same calendar day 51 years ago, in 1963, the Cardiff rugby crowd had gathered to watch Wilson Whineray's All Blacks team play the Cardiff club team. NZ won 6-5. On that occasion the population had watched quietly. Everyone was subdued because the night before news had come through that in Dallas, Texas, the popular American President John F. Kennedy had been shot dead in Dallas Texas. The two rugby teams on that far off day had stood in silence at halfway in his honour.
Just because they had wanted to.
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Every day there is Rugby History 6 October 2007
Click to show All of New Zealand shouted 'forward pass!' - but France got the victory.
It was tough times for the ABs at the Rugby World Cup in Cardiff. The alleged 'forward' pass by a Frenchman led to a try - and New Zealand headed homewards.
A-Z of Rugby
Click to show AGEN RFC
A powerful and popular rugby club in the south of France. The club has had great success in the French club championship winning eight times: in 1930, 1945, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1976, 1982 and 1988.
The 1930 final was one of the most dramatic for the club. One of its players, 18-year-old wing Michel Pradie, was so badly injured in a qualifying match that he died that night in hospital. In the final in Bordeaux against the Quillan team, the score was 0–0 at full-time. In extra time the Agen fullback Marius Guiral, who had replaced Pradie, seized the ball and drop-kicked a goal from 45 metres. Agen won 4–0 amid scenes of high emotion and relief. That night the president of the FFR said the dropped goal had the ‘breath of poor Michel Pradie carrying it towards victory’.
In 1945 Agen won again with two of its strongest club personalities in the team: the indomitable Albert Ferrasse (later president of the FFR) and Guy Basquet.
The 1966 final was one to forget more than savour. Agen beat Dax by 9–8, but the game was so full of dirty play that the Minister of Youth and Sports was moved to ask officially what the FFR intended to do about it.
The federation accordingly stepped in and suspended three participants in the game for life! (The suspensions were lifted after one year.)
In the 1976 final Agen won again by 13–10, but only after extra time. By this time the team had René Benesis, Daniel Dubroca, and Alain Plantefol, all current or future French internationals. Its opponent that year was the formidable Béziers club, which won so heavily in the championship in that decade.
In 1984 the club was not quite so lucky. Again the two teams in the final were Béziers and Agen. Again extra time was needed before Béziers won 3–1 on penalties after a 21–21 draw.
Agen’s most recent win was in 1988 when the prominent internationals Bérot, Lacombe, Sella, Montlaur, Berbizier, Erbani, Benetton, Gratton, Seigne and Dubroca gave the Agen team a star-studded lineup. That year it beat Tarbes 9–3. The two rival hookers, Dubroca (Agen) and Dintrans (Tarbes), captained the two teams.
More than a rugby club, Agen has been one of the strong power centres of French rugby. The elevation of Albert Ferrasse to the presidency of the FFR ensured that. The town hosted an International Rugby Board meeting
in 1989. Several internationals have been held on Agen’s home ground, the Stade Armandie, which was renovated to host games for the 1991 and 1999 Rugby World Cups.
In 2002 Agen made a bold attempt to win their 9th French Club Championship. In a glorious final at Stade de France the game went to extra time but Biarritz won 25.22
10 Questions to well known sporting people
Today's KQ Rugby Quiz
In which town or city was the first international rugby match played in Wales?
What do you think?
Click here to show the answer.
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