From subtropical Kerikeri in the far north, to alpine Queenstown in the south, the Rugby World Cup will embrace small-town New Zealand.
New Zealand is, in essence, a nation of small towns; its population is only 4.5 million, 1.3 million of those in its largest city, Auckland.
Strewn across its landscape of rainforests, deserts, white-sand beaches and alpine peaks are a necklace of townships that have become the homesteads of the seventh Rugby World Cup.
Photo: AFP
Organizers could have housed teams in New Zealand’s largest cities, in plush hotel with access to nightlife. Instead, they decided to take the tournament to the people, housing teams in tiny townships which have embraced supporting roles in the world’s fourth most-watched sporting event.
Fiji has been based at Ohope Beach, near Whakatane (population 18,000) on the east coast of the North Island. The Fijian players were moved almost to tears when the junior classes of the local primary school welcomed them to Ohope with songs and dance.
The US team will be based, for the first part of its stay in New Zealand, at Whanganui on the west coast of the North Island. Local Maori sought to welcome the team by ferrying them by war canoe from their meeting place along the Whanganui River.
Photo: Reuters
The US declined the invitation for safety reasons, then accepted when they realized they had unintentionally upset their hosts, and both groups enjoyed the day.
The city of Whanganui, population 43,000, has welcomed members of the US team, who are met with an unaccustomed celebrity in the town’s shopping precinct, situated along its single main street.
Kerikeri will host Canada, Japan and Tonga at various stages during pool play; Queenstown will welcome England, Georgia, Ireland and Romania. Georgia will also stay in Masterton, a country town 80km north of Wellington.
Locals have printed T-shirts bearing the legend “Wairarapa Loves Georgia” (Wairarapa is the province). Georgia players will be billeted with local families — rather than staying at hotels — to better experience their hospitality.
“This is the chance of the whole of Wairarapa to show how delighted we are to have the Georgians on board and to experience some of the World Cup fever at the same time,” events co--ordinator Catherine Rossiter-Stead said. “We want to make it something really special and I am sure we will.”
Russia will be based for a time in Blenheim in the heart of the Marlborough wine-growing region and local vintners have been eager to have the visitors sample their products. That might not be the ideal preparation for Russia’s subsequent match against Australia at Nelson on Oct. 1.
The Namibia team was welcomed to Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island, noted because of international time zones as the first city to see the sun rise each day. The city of 34,000 was briefly a tourism mecca for the new millennium celebrations 11 years ago.
The Gisborne Herald newspaper welcomed the team from southwest Africa with a Maori greeting on its front page.
Romania landed in -earthquake-devastated Christchurch before traveling to their first base at Ashburton in the province of Canterbury.
Romanian-born Violeta Tataru, in national dress and carrying bread and salt — a Romanian tradition — greeted the players.
“It’s once in a lifetime that you can have a Romanian rugby team in Ashburton for the Rugby World Cup,” she said.
New Zealander Steve McDowell, an assistant coach with the Romania team, said the players were surprised to receive such a warm welcome so far from home.
“The boys were surprised and they were as excited as the local Romanians were,” he said.
Even world No. 2 Australia will spend time during the World Cup at Hanmer Springs, a thermal hot springs resort in Canterbury with a population of fewer than 800.
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