Ask Phoebe: Curtain raisers absent from line up

Eden Park. Photo / Getty Images

In 1956, I went to Eden Park and witnessed the All Blacks beat the South African team, and heard Peter Jones' legendary after-match utterance. All very thrilling to be part of that huge crowd. Equally exciting was the curtain-raiser between a superb Otahuhu College 1st XV (including Nathan, Herewini, and maybe Thorburn - later to become All Blacks) and another team I cannot recall. Can you enlighten me? Also will there be curtain-raisers before the cup matches? Helen Thorstensen, Torbay.

The triumphant Otahuhu College beat Seddon Memorial Technical College by one point that day, after a last-minute drop goal by Herewini. But I'm sorry, I have not been able to find out the final score for that match. Can anyone help with this?

And it was Murdoch, not Thorburn, who was a teammate of Herewini and Nathan.

And no, there will not be curtain-raiser matches before the RWC games.

There is a rumour going around that the fanzone for Albany will not be going ahead. Can you please investigate? David Hick, Albany.

The Fanzone at Albany will definitely go ahead. It will be called the Northern Lights Fanzone and you will find more information here.

Could you please provide an explanation on the paving on Wairepo Swamp Walk and the green paving and pillar on the Sandringham/Walters Rds corner? Both are very attractive and I would think the reasons behind them will be interesting. John Mead, Freemans Bay.

The Wairepo Swamp Walk links Kingsland and Eden Park. The shared traffic and pedestrian road is paved with huge squares of black and white made from a combination of North Island basalt and South Island silica. The black and white has been used to reflect our national sporting colours. Auckland conceptual artist Billy Apple, famous for his pop art collaborations with Andy Warhol in New York in the 1960s, created the surface.

Will Eden Park have any form of time clock on display during games? At present the only time visible to count down how long has gone/is left in the game is at the top of the two big screens. These can be very distant and hard to read. Will they put a clock up like in the heyday of Eden Park? Tim Bernard, Remuera.

Tracy Morgan, general manager of sales and marketing at Eden Park, says that no extra clocks are planned for Eden Park.

We will be travelling by car from Tauranga to several RWC matches. Our preference is to catch a bus in South Auckland. Can you please suggest a park-and-ride bus station?
Diana and Kerry Drumm, Mt Maunganui.

My suggestion would be to drive to Papakura, leave the car at the station carpark there and take the train. Special-event train services will be running from Papakura directly to Newmarket, and from there to Kingsland. An alternative is to use normal scheduled services to Britomart and then catch a special-event train to Kingsland. Return trains will be running back along the southern line after the match. Travel by train is free when you produce your match ticket.