USA v NZ Maori

On a bus for a 3 hour ride with 40 drunk Yanks and a token Kiwi.
Watching replays of the Babas and NZ. Getting in game shape for the drubbing to come

Enjoy the game doc. The result will be good practice for you for next week.  

Have we for any coverage of it here? (Not of course that makes much difference to me but might get a mate to sky+ it...)

On our sky now- good old american commentators- feels like an NFL game...

30 minutes in and the score is 6 NZ - 7 US. Stadium is full on a cold freezing beer-ful night.

OK. 9-6 USA. Place is going bonkers. Need more beer.

great match too doc. crowd look like theyre really getting into it...

14-9 now. I like the sideline comments...
Maori pressing on the Eagles line now.

Tim Bateman in for a try. Nice footwork. conversion misses. 19-9 now.

US blows a chance on the line but get a penalty. 12-19.
Freakin freezing

Megan (sideline blonde) just called Zac Guilford "a big dog"  

geez... pop that pass and he was through!

They are in now.
Great work from the US after the turnover midfield. 22-17, kick to come.

BIG US try. 7 mins left. 19-22. All to play. Need whisky

I wish I could teleport some over to ya, Doc.

Maori pounce on an error, Afoaki makes some valuable yards and then they swing it out wide to the right corner for a try.

29-19 final minute.

Oh merde. US made a great effort but came up a hair short. And Eagles were without their best players. Terrific drama. Good win by the Maori. First time I have seen a complete full stadium for Rugby here in America.
Good signs for our sport. Now a two hour bus ride back up Norte.

Phone is just about out of juice. Kept warm with some girl sitting on my lap for the second half. My sons were cracking up. Love this sport.

Americans played great defense.
Great evening boys and girls.

Was a great spectacle for US fans. The crowd was very loud especially towards the end. Very impressed with the standard of the local commentary too - they were wise to the nuances of the game. Glad you enjoyed the ocassion, Doc.

Well here in the morning after the night before, some interesting reflections.  Blimey, not even 6:00 yet.

Walking from where the bus parked to the stadium was like walking through a phalanx of people tailgating, tossing rugby balls, and having a special warm-me-up on a cold night.  Couldn't get to the stadium without two beers and a couple of nips of a bottle of who-knows-what.  Saw people I haven't seen for years.  

There were kids as well as adults and the kids were into the match.  Shows the future of Rugby here might be OK.  The kids were well into the pretty girls which shows the future of the species is going to be fine.

The stadium (a soccer stadium) was full to the brim, about 20.000.  People knew their Rugby.  This was not just a novelty.

Seemed like there were clubs represented from all over the north east.  There IS a hunger for Rugby here.  

And the crowd was great, nothing like a soccer crowd.  

MOst of the Moari players were ITM guys with some Super Rugby players thrown in.  The American players are mostly home grown here.  This is good for Rugby too.  

I had to wash my clothes as soon as I got home because the girl who was sitting on my lap had a strong perfume.  This was nice.............

My boys will sleep for another 6 hours.   I am tired too.  

Great night for Rugby in America.

Highlights already up on youtube: Can you spot yourself in the crowd doc.

Commentators saying some of the NZ Maori centres could or should be in Europe now.

The Americans too.

The Georgia and Russia games will be fun to watch. They have improved considerably... or maybe they just lifted at home?

Anyway, we'll soon see. Tbilisi must be quite a foreign venue for any away team.  
They should feel more at home in London though.

Hmmmm,

I thought USA were a bit more...how shall I put it..."up to date" in their pitch side medical interventions than that.

Even the amateur game in Ireland has moved past "rubbing alcohol" as a therapeutic option.

Sounds like this match was just the fillip the game in America deserves. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

 

MrsP.
The game was terrific. So gratifying to see 20,000 pack a small/mid-size american stadium to see Rugby. There were people from rugby clubs all over the northeast and the atmoshpere was electric. Some peopole rooted for the kiwis, but most for the Americans. Not one single bad word about anyone, anywhere. Just good solid raucous fun on a freezing night.

Clearly the Kiwis had the edge in pure skill, but the Americans defended with spirit and guts and confidence. And many Americans are semi-professionals. After the match all players came around and many from both teams came inot the stands to talk with the crowd. Another fantastic thing about our sport.

I see there is a rumour about the All Blacks coming to play in the New York area. I bet we could fill Giants Stadium. But also, we could make a Rugby week out of it with training sessions, meet-and-greets, and so on. Simply exciting possibilities.

If the USA take rugby seriously they could be very very good. They have the athletes and they are already producing great players such as Manoa.

If Canada and USA could both pull over 20K to se the Maori then imagine the potential market that is there.

Mate, from what i was told, the match was sold out a week before the match. No walk-ups at all. Amazing. And exciting.

What kind of media coverage did the game get over there?

Did it get a mention on National networks or just locally?

It was on a national sports cable network. Unfortunately not a freeview network. But shown live and re-played a number of times. And the sports network is one of those usually included in most sports network packages at US$10-12 per month. Not a bad start.

Doc, with the talk of the NZ not playing against the USA do you think that the interest will still be there? Or would the possibility of a double header be better with USA against either a development NZ side or similar international team & NZ against a competitive team?

I'd actually heard two proposals, both from fairly drunk USA Rugby and AIG officials on saturday night.  One was NZ against a major opposition and/or Barbarians.  The rumours were another AB-Wallaby match like they had in Hong Kong this year or the Baabaas.  

The other was a double-header with the ABs and their opposition followed by USA-Canada.  

I think this would be a huge draw.  The problem, as usual with Rugby here, is the Marketing.  The match the other day had only a little marketing money thrown around.  But the ABs are a unique sports brand and are sponsored by AIG an American company, and wear Adidas kit.  With just a bit of Marketing, Giants Stadium (or MetLife Stadium as the new stadium is called) could easily be sold out, all 80,000 seats.  It is a terrifically easy stadium to get to.  Even has its own train station which is only 100 yards from the ticket gates.  

By the way, my seats for the match the other day were US$25.

doctor_grey wrote:I'd actually heard two proposals, both from fairly drunk USA Rugby and AIG officials on saturday night.  One was NZ against a major opposition and/or Barbarians.  The rumours were another AB-Wallaby match like they had in Hong Kong this year or the Baabaas.  

The other was a double-header with the ABs and their opposition followed by USA-Canada.  

I think this would be a huge draw.  The problem, as usual with Rugby here, is the Marketing.  The match the other day had only a little marketing money thrown around.  But the ABs are a unique sports brand and are sponsored by AIG an American company, and wear Adidas kit.  With just a bit of Marketing, Giants Stadium (or MetLife Stadium as the new stadium is called) could easily be sold out, all 80,000 seats.  It is a terrifically easy stadium to get to.  Even has its own train station which is only 100 yards from the ticket gates.  

By the way, my seats for the match the other day were US$25.

Did that include the, err, lap warmer?

Gentlemen never discuss such things.
Sadly, it would have topped off my evening if my lap was made just a tick warmer, if you know what I mean. Wouldn't have taken very long...........