Bulls vs Waikato

If you are a sports fan, particularly a rugby fan, the good news throughout the long rainy winter is that there is usually some form of the game for you to watch. The All Blacks play periodically, Super Rugby franchise enjoys their season throughout June/July, and of course there’s always little league if you’re willing to brave the weather on Saturday mornings J 

This month saw the start of the provincial rugby season, so Sat night we headed out to Yarrow Stadium to watch the Port Taranaki Bulls take on Waikato (it is unclear to me what Waikato’s mascot is…). Provincial rugby would be equivalent to minor league baseball teams, if you happen to be like me and struggle with the difference between all of them. Of course it makes it harder when players team-hop because I’ll hear a familiar name and think I know what it’s all about.

I am not a diehard rugby fan (as evidenced by my falling asleep on the couch later Sat night as the All Blacks were beating Australia in game one of a three game series), but I do enjoy the stadium atmosphere. The weather had cleared a bit from the windy/rainy morning, so it was chilly but not too cool to be out and enjoy the sport. There is still a lot I do not understand about the game, but I have learned enough to be able to follow along. I now know what a scrum is, and a line out, and what it means if someone says "knock on" or "offside." I can also occasionally tell why a penalty was given, and know that if there's too many "dropkicks" in the game, it is considered boring.

It turned out to be a fairly exciting game. Both teams scored early, with the Bulls scoring significantly in the first half. Waikato made a comeback in the second half that put them very close to winning. However, Bulls tightened their defense and won by a margin of five points! We did have an interesting comparison conversation regarding terminology between rugby and football. The conclusion is that it is slightly less exciting to jubilantly say “Try” rather than “Touchdown” if a player successfully reaches the end zone. Since rugby requires the ball to touch the ground in the end zone for points to be scored, “touchdown” seems ironically to be more fitting. 

Ye old mascot

A line out

A scrum