John Hawkins / Stuff
Fans evacuate to the field at Rugby Park after the fire alarm went off during Sunday’s Southland-Auckland match.
It’s quite a major inconvenience that now just brings a smile to those affected.
Four minutes into the second half of the Southland-Auckland National Provincial Championship rugby match in Invercargill on Sunday, the fire alarm went off.
A pre-recorded message started playing advising the nearly 3,000 in attendance to head for the nearest exit.
Those in the company boxes walked to nearby Tweed St.
READ MORE:
* Ian Foster’s future will be decided in the coming days after All Blacks tour to South Africa is discussed
* NPC wrap: Canterbury villainy in quest to end ‘drought’ title
* ‘That’s my coach, I support him 100 percent’: Ardie Savea makes All Blacks position clear
John Hawkins
Southland Stags center Isaac Te Tamaki celebrates his second half try with teammates.
Those in the stands and terraces were moved to safety when a fire crew arrived to assess the situation.
The culprit behind the fire alarm? A burnt cheese sandwich in the club rooms of the Southland supporters. A comic culprit considering the cheese sandwich is so synonymous with Southland.
An overcooked cheese sandwich — aka Southland Sushi — led to a nearly 20-minute pause in the game.
While there was some frustration behind the delay, the game day DJ managed to find the funny side as Billy Joel’s song I didn’t light the fire echoed on the ground.
John Hawkins
Spectators enter the Rugby Park pitch in Invercargill after a fire alarm went off early in the second half of the Southland Auckland NPC match.
The match eventually resumed with Auckland leading 14-6 before taking a 24-23 win.
Southland coach Dale MacLeod could only shrug and think about the next step when asked if he faced a unique 20-minute delay.
The week before, his team endured a nightmare-like journey to Blenheim, which delayed the kick-off for the game against Tasman by three and a half hours.
A few minutes before kick-off, Ben Morris suffered a serious knee injury.
“It’s the world we live in now,” MacLeod joked about the interruption due to a burnt cheese roll.
“Yeah, that was a little different, but I imagine if it was say five degrees and wind and rain, it wouldn’t have been so much fun.”
As for MacLeod’s overall assessment of his team’s performance on Sunday, he wasn’t so thrilled.
He was disappointed with the players’ accuracy, suggested that some players were not taking advantage of the opportunity presented, and acknowledged that the set piece was a problem area.
However, again he could not fault the intention of his players in the loss of one point.
“The guys are working to do extras at the end of training, during training, before training, every opportunity we get the guys are working. So it’s not a lack of trying.
“We had guys climbing over each other” [on Sunday against Auckland] and guys who both arrive in the same position. We just need to be a little more patient with what we’re doing. I felt like some of our key drivers didn’t quite come up today to get it under control,” MacLeod said.
“If we want to win games, we have to be better than that.”
Southland pushed powerhouse unions Tasman and Auckland to the wire in the first two rounds, racking up bonus points for being within seven points in both.
MacLeod acknowledged that it points to big improvements in recent years and although he was a frustrated coach after the game, he had to take a personal breather.
“I have to take a breath and say, ‘This is where we are’. The guys are doing their best, so I can’t beat the intention and the work they do… This group is a very good group.
Next up for Southland is the derby with Otago, arguably the biggest game on the Southland rugby calendar.