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You are here: Home » Halfway Horror Stats about Wellington Rugby 2014; Read them and Weep!
23 September 2014
Adam Julian is a young Kiwi rugby writer on the way up. He is already an expert on New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby - but has a keen and courageous eye on other aspects of the game in our country, including today's provinicial results and their comparison with what has gone before.
An old boy of St Pat's Silverstream College this 28 year-old is based in Wellington still but is trying to crack the Auckland scene.
Adam sends me short missives from time to time.
The stats below don't occupy a lot of space. But ouch! They are are hurtful if you live in Wellington and have loved the capital's rugby down the years.
Here's his summary; Read it and if you live south of Upper Hutt and West of Wainui hold your head in your hands!
"The Wellington Lions have now had seven losses in a row this season; and they are averaging 36 points against them per game.
There have only been 15 seasons since 1880 where Wellington have lost more games than they have won. In 1884 they didn't score a single point, but that year they only played one game! - which was a 0-9 loss to New Zealand before they departed to Australia.
The worst until now was in 1926 when Wellington did beat New Zealand and the New Zealand Maori, but all up they lost 11 other games out of 16 that year, their most defeats in a season.
In 1997 they went 3-7 and conceded 483 points!"
Thanks Adam! (for nothin')
.....
Comments 0
After a parade around the ground of old-time All Blacks, Australia loses 29-9 to New Zealand on Wellington's Athletic Park.
ANTARCTICA
Several international rugby matches (of sorts) have been played on the ice of Antarctica, so they should be recognized in an A-Z such as this.
In 1989 a group of scientists and staff started a match between USA and New Zealand. It is a fixture on the ice which has been played intermittently over the years since.
There are several unique features about rugby in Antarctica. Firstly the game is played on a snow-covered ice field and sometimes there have been no goal posts. Implanting posts into the rock-hard ice is nigh impossible. Sometimes the game has been delayed several days until the weather clears. The clothing the players wear is interesting; often it has been full kit needed for living in extremely cold temperatures. Sometimes too, the teams have been of mixed gender. And often it is not certain whether teams will be at full strength. One year a New Zealand squad gathered prospective players at 3pm, picked their best line up, and the game kicked off at 3.30!
In an international between the New Zealand Scott Base team and the USA McMurdo Base team in 2001, the New Zealanders scored three tries to one, but the score was posted in the weekly Antarctic Sun newspaper as being 9-3. Obviously the message had not made it through to the people on the ice of the increase in points values for a try! That had first happened over 30 years earlier!
Which international rugby player who went to two Rugby World Cups also won two Olympic Games Gold Medals and 2 World Championship bronze medals in a chosen 'other' sport?
What do you think?
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