PALMERSTON NORTH, NEW ZEALAND // When in Rome, do as the Romans. When in New Zealand, it seems, go and watch rugby, even if the cricket is on at the time.
On Friday night, the national cricket team continued to carry the country’s hopes in their home World Cup by dispatching Bangladesh.
Yet for much of the business stage of that game, a large chunk of New Zealand was focused on the Super Rugby derby between the Hurricanes – nominally of Wellington, but on this occasion playing two hours’ drive away in Palmerston North – and Auckland’s Blues instead.
Rugby union is clearly the main obsession in these parts. That much was obvious when Mike Hesson, the cricket team’s coach, compared the pressure his side are under to that which is regularly felt by the All Blacks.
The gist of Hesson’s point was that the rugby team are always expected to win; what determines their success is the margin. The cricketers are not used to that sort of expectation.
There were a raft of All Blacks on show at the Arena Manawatu, a multi-sport venue with a speedway dirt track between the field and the stands.
The Hurricanes are flying high at the start of the season in the league which includes franchises from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
They made hard work of beating the winless Blues 30-23, with Julian Savea, their star international winger, the difference between the sides.
Both the teams have been temporarily evicted from their regular home ground because of the cricket. The Hurricanes, who have four wins from four to start the new season, usually play at Wellington’s Regional Stadium, otherwise known as the Cake Tin, which played host to the UAE against South Africa on Thursday.
Whether the UAE’s cricketers have paid much notice to the fact the global contest they are involved in has overlapped with one of rugby’s leading competitions is unlikely.
Paul Franks, the English assistant coach, attended the Super Rugby match between the Force and Hurricanes the evening before the UAE played India in Perth.
In addition, Peter Kelly, the strength and conditioning consultant, is among the leading rugby players in the UAE, where he plays for the Jebel Ali Dragons.
Kelly, who is from New Zealand’s south, brought a rugby ball with him here and has tried to encourage touch rugby matches in training or warm-ups, with indifferent success.
By the look of it, Andri Berenger, the Dubai-born opener who spent some of his school days in Sri Lanka, where rugby is popular, has played a little bit of the oval ball game. As for the rest of them, forget about it.
The national team have played two matches in this competition at venues the Hurricanes use for Super Rugby matches, the Cake Tin and McLean Park in Napier.
In the case of the Wellington venue, there was barely anyone there to watch the UAE’s World Cup defeat to South Africa.
But televised home games involving the Hurricanes there rarely seem overly atmospheric either, with the obtrusive yellow seats usually accounting for a noticeable chunk of the backdrop.
The match against the Blues in Palmerston North was entirely different. Even though there was only 10,460 people in attendance, a middling crowd by this competition’s standards, it was buzzing.
The ground does not hold much more than that. It felt packed to the rafters, and the supporters made the most of their chance to see the cast of global stars playing on their own patch.
Super Rugby may have an international audience – every game is on TV in the Middle East – but judged on this game, it has a clear sense of its primary market.
To say this felt more homely than any fixture at the cricket World Cup is understating the point. The ICC has two South Korean multi-nationals among its corporate partners.
In contrast, The Boneyard, as the Palmerston North stadium is affectionately known, had advertisements lining the field for a domestic paint shop, a local radio station and the nearest gym.
Despite a variety of household names in the line-ups of either side, the biggest ovation was reserved for a local product, Nehe Milner-Skudder.
The Hurricanes fullback, 24, is a rookie at this level, playing on this occasion in his hometown.
At the end, a gate at the northern end of the ground was opened and scores of children flooded to the side of the field, where they waited patiently for autographs and selfies with the players.
This was the first time in two years a Super Rugby fixture had been played here, and the supporters did not want to miss out. Even if it meant skipping the cricket for an evening.
THREE COMMON VENUES
The cricket World Cup is taking place at three venues that also staged matches in rugby union’s version four years ago.
Eden Park, Auckland
A sell-out crowd of 61,079 saw the home nation beat France to win the Webb Ellis trophy in 2011. The capacity of the stadium in New Zealand’s most populated city has been reduced since, but it was similarly heaving when the Black Caps played out a classic in a one-wicket win over Australia in this competition in front of 40,000.
McLean Park, Napier
The art-deco city on the east coast of the North Island has a good record of packing people in for matches between lesser-known, neutral nations. More than 14,000 watched Canada draw with Japan at McLean Stadium in 2011. This time around, the cricket has proved a tough sell – there were around only 2,000 there when the UAE played Pakistan.
Regional Stadium, Wellington
As many as 35,787 attended when neutral sides from the other side of the world, Ireland and Wales, met in the quarter-final of rugby’s showpiece in 2011. That is more than the Hurricanes usually attract in Super Rugby, or the Black Caps get for one-day internationals, although their World Cup game against England was packed. For the UAE against South Africa, it was desolate.
pradley@thenational.ae
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