Campbell Burnes has many WARM memories of Dunedin. The Rugby News editor recalls a test between the All Blacks and Ireland 20 years ago.
I’ve never been colder.
And the rugby did nothing to warm me up. Huddled in the Carisbrook booth with my mates, thoughts drifted to regrets we hadn’t smuggled in a hip flask to thaw and as an antidote to the swollen footy.
It was June 15, 2002, the first test of the All Blacks v Ireland series. The home side fielded no fewer than 13 Crusaders, who had just somehow romped through Super 12, in the starting XV. Well, Robbie Deans was the assistant coach next to head honcho John Mitchell.
Geez, I wish I could give you some details about what happened in those 80 minutes. The All Blacks won 15-6 and scored two tries – for Doug Howlett and Leon MacDonald – which I have no recollection of.
But they should have lost. The Irish got stuck in them during the game and the breakdown. I had to look that up in Men in blackâ€
What I can vividly remember is Irish hooker Keith Wood making the best connection all night long at the controversial lemon-Adidas ball. He ripped off a 50m spiral touch-finder kick. Many more qualified players, such as Andrew Mehrtens and Ronan O’Gara, were not so lucky.
If O’Gara had worn the number 22 jersey instead of the number 10, and David Humphreys had started in his place, the Irish could very well have won their historic first game against the All Blacks, some 14 years before that famous day in Chicago. O’Gara did take one penalty, but would have struggled to hit the side of a stable door on that freezing night.
Mehrtens, who scored two goals, ran into trouble with the sponsors, who do a good line in boots but not balls, by calling the match ball “a pig”.
That lemon, or the pig, from a ball didn’t last long.
There was some cheering as both teams left the field. They may not have booed the home side as such, just the spectacle. By the way, burping is an easy way to reheat the almonds once you’re chilled to the bone.
My friends and I retired to the pub, which was warm and full of people eager to forget what they had just experienced. The thought came to mind that an indoor stadium might be the test subject for tests in Dunedin. It’s one thing to go through an afternoon test in Carisbrook with the sun, a chilly wind and a sticky, muddy surface. But to do it five hours later in the middle of winter… that puts a fan to the test.
Fortunately, while it still gets wildly cold in Dunedin in July, there is a roof on Forsyth Barr Stadium to provide protection from the elements.
I also have a nagging feeling that 2022’s rugby will be more memorable than any young, free journo and his City of Sails buddies endured a dark and damp night some 20 years ago.