Rugby royalty return to grassroots

Supporters shelter at the defunct Mangatainoka Rugby Club. Photo / Getty Images

The changing rooms at Mangatainoka lack one feature today's players might be used to - a mirror.

Yesterday, around 10,000 spectators gathered in the north Wairarapa rain, beneath the shadow of the landmark Tui brewery, to watch the glamour boys of the Hurricanes and Blues in the first Super 14 pre-season game.

For the players, it was like no ground they had ever encountered in their professional rugby careers - right down to the mud.

Held on the old grounds of the now-defunct Mangatainoka Rugby Club, the paddock had been spruced up for the occasion by farmer Neil "Skin" Symonds.

A Hurricanes supporter, he's spent the past three months grooming the paddock in readiness for the game. And his work didn't stop on the day itself - he pulled at least one car out of the mud with his quad bike.

Traffic along State Highway 2 slowed to a crawl as a steady flow of rugby supporters, many from Wellington and the Hawke's Bay, flooded into the tiny town.

Tui Brewery girls, carrying umbrellas and wearing gumboots, directed spectators to the temporary stadium where rugby legend Sir Brian Lochore kicked off the main game.

Nearby a huge corporate tent sheltered VIP guests from the worst of the rain, while in the main hospitality area others tucked into sausages or bacon butties provided by local fundraising groups such as Plunket or Mangatainoka Primary School.

The game was the idea of Tui Brewery commercial manager Nick Rogers who felt rugby was becoming far too corporate and needed to get back to its roots. "And this is about as grassroots as you can get," he said.

Rogers added: "We're ready to step in for Eden Park if it's not built by 2011."

For the record, the Blues won the game 19-17.