The Lions Tour

Hack, hacc, Hacca........    John Barnes, John Roderick, Gordon Wilde and Roger Barrett returned last July having perfected, as far as an Englishman can, this Maouri tribal rite of the All Blacks; thus an entertaining evening started with tongues hanging out and strange jungly sounds in their red Lions rugby shirts doing the hacca.

After landing at Auckland (North Island), they moved onto Wellington and discovered they had the All Blacks team on the aeroplane with them, arriving for the first Test match and another local game with the Lions.  Some 25,000 red clad Lions supporters were at the rugby and large red chunks of the stadiums were Lions at all the games. A tremendous level of support, but then the Lions have been doing Tours to All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies, every four years in peacetime since 1888!  In those days the first tour to Kiwi-land lasted a year.

There have been 41 tours visiting the All Blacks; the Lions have won just seven. The All Blacks are the team to beat as they are so formidably intense, and undoubtedly the best rugby team in the world.

The Gloucester Severn Lions were made very welcome everywhere they went and the hospitality was second to none, despite the price of beer. Golf Clubs couldn’t do enough for them. Nothing held our lads back, the Kiwis being very friendly as the pics showed and Gloucester recognised in the Kiwi rugby world.  Ian McGeechan, Gareth Chilcott, and Shane Williams were some of the rugby game’s well known stars with whom they rubbed shoulders.
             
Apart from rugger and golf, they tried go carting at Rotarua, socialising and saw wood carving of totem poles; plus helping a hosting rugby club’s charity raising effort of NZ$2200.
             
The final test game was back in Auckland at the Eden Park Stadium. Chilcott had found our boys better seats near the half way line, next to him!  The game’s contentious result due to an accidental offside in the last minutes, was a draw 15 - 15. As the first test (also Eden Park) was won by the All Blacks 30-15 and the second test (Westpac stadium, Wellington) won by the Lions 21-24, the tour result of a draw left the Kiwis and the Lions somewhat nonplussed.  However considering the history of this tournament, the intensity of play and All Black supporters being just as fanatical as the Gloucester Shed, the Lions did very well to play the All Blacks to a draw on their home turf.  And our lads were very lucky to be there on such an occasion.
             
The Boks are next!

Peter Burton.