Rugby: Blind rugby kicks off with victory for tourists

Lions fullback Liam Williams, during the Lions training session. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The British and Irish Lions have beaten New Zealand 35-0 in the first blind rugby international at QBE Stadium in Albany yesterday with the occasion signifying the birth of the sport in this country.

Blind rugby is a seven-man, two-handed touch version of the game and has been a sporting option for sight-impaired people in the United Kingdom for a couple of years.

This three-test series will be used to get the sport up and running on a domestic basis in New Zealand.

"Two years ago, the Change Foundation in the UK came up with the concept of making rugby accessible for the blind and low vision community," Blind Sport New Zealand national manager Daniel Shepherd told the Herald.

"They have been playing over there with a player-base of more than 60 for the last two years and approached Blind Sport New Zealand in late 2016 with the intention to run the first blind rugby international test series in alignment with the All Blacks versus Lions tour in July 2017.

"It has been a short build-up for us and we have had a short time to put the team together.

"Blind Sport NZ did a series of participation sessions around the country to introduce the sport to our community and from there, we have run a wider squad camp for the national team and have selected the national team based on who attended that camp.

"We have run that process in less than three months."

Shepherd's aim is to get the sport up and running around the country and he has more ideas of how to help its profile by setting up more international games.

"Domestically, we do have a number of established multisport blind and low vision sports clubs around the country. We hope that they will adopt blind rugby as their winter sports option.

"In 2018, we want them to be part of a national competition.

"We are already in talks with Australia about taking the game there and whether it be 2018 or 2019 getting a blind Bledisloe Cup series going."

Several of coach Warren Gatland's British and Irish Lions touring squad were on hand to cheer on their team and they greeted players from both sides in a nice touch.

"That's great to have some of the touring Lions squad here not just to watch the test match but also acknowledge these blind rugby players have gone out there and given everything for their jersey," Shepherd said.

The 33-year-old made the squad himself and had family and friends watching him represent his country in what he described as a "special occasion".

"At the start of the game, we all pulled on a black jersey and I'd like to think we ran out there with a responsibility to do the jersey justice," he said.

The series continues with matches tomorrow and Sunday in Auckland.