I thought I would repost this in my blog and share it with all of you.
By John Roughan 5:30 AM Monday Jan 10, 2011
Former All Black Kieran Crowley, now coach of Canada,
eyed the Hawkes Bay regional co-ordinator for Rugby
World Cup, Peter Mooney, and said, "We will be your
second team, won't we?"
No question. Canada will be based at Napier for more
than two weeks of September. It is not their first port of
call and not their last but it is their longest by far.
They play France at McLean Park on September 18
and Japan at the same ground nine days later. Crowley
has offered his players for 15 school visits, says Mooney,
and indicated he is keen to generate all the local support
he can.
Hawkes Bay primary school teams will be preparing for
their Ross Shield competition in October and Mooney
hopes to give them contact with the Canadians, maybe
with pick-up games of touch.
At this stage about 1000 supporters are expected to
come from Canada for the cup, with possibly 7000
from France and 2400 from Japan.
In Napier, they will see the annual Blossom Festival.
It opens with a parade on Saturday, September 17,
the day before the Canada-France game and both
teams have offered their non-playing squad members
for a float.
This year, the Blossom Festival will feature a three-
storey rugby ball made of grass. Mooney hopes the
World Cup players will do some picture duty around it.
In addition, he plans to give schools a menu of
opportunities to see the players, such as open practice
sessions at Tremain field.
Schools that put their hand up early this year will be
allocated an opportunity. The Canadians, or at least
their coach, may be keen on these events but Japan
and France are another story.
"France and Japan come a few days before their matches
and basically said not to bother them until it's over,"
Mooney said.
Japan's coach, another former All Black John Kirwan,
and France's Jo Maso have both checked out the venue.
When Mooney was showing Maso around McLean
Park the Frenchman recalled playing there in 1968
when France beat Hawkes Bay.
"At that moment I looked across and saw [former All
Black] Ian MacRae poke his head through the door,
said Mooney. "Maca was opposing Maso that day. I
called him over and they had a great time."
But if Kieran Crowley's efforts pay off, the Bay will be
behind Canada. And he is no doubt looking ahead to
his team's last pool match, in Wellington against the
All Blacks.
Some second-team sympathy there could be handy.
By John Roughan | Email John
