Page 12 - Brecon RFC News Summer 2017

12
Johnny Morris
Charlie & Gonzo
Length of stay?
Which games did you see?
Which of the games was your favourite?
Most memorable event?
Favourite place visited?
Average units of alcohol per day per person?
Big night out?
Best thing about the trip?
Anything you’d do differently if you were doing it again?
Any last thoughts?
22 days
v NZ Barbarians (Whangerei) (W) v Blues (Auckland) (L) v Crusaders (Christchurch) (W) v Highlanders (Dunedin) (L) v All Black Maoris (Rotorua) (W) v Chiefs (Hamilton) (W)
The victory over the Crusaders prevented the tour crashing and burning after a very ‘iffy’ start.
The Maori challenge at the Waitangi treaty grounds was quite something. It was nothing like a pre kick-off haka. At one point 300+ Maori (brandishing traditional and not so traditional weapons – a few of them had guns, no kidding) surrounded the squad and performed an incredibly aggressive challenge. Moriarty was bristling to take them on.
St Heliers - I lived there for 5 years, it was great to catch-up with mates I’d not seen for a while in this beautiful part of Auckland.
7 units [editors note: sounds rubbish, but if you do the maths it's not far off Charlie and Gonzo’s impressive total for their trip!]
New Zealand Barbarians game in Whangerei was pretty full on. I’ve never seen so many drunk people in one place as were at Toll stadium. The Blues game in Auckland where I blagged my way into the hospitality with some mates was a good one too.
Travelling the length of the country and catching up with loads of mates that I'd not seen since I left NZ 5 Years ago punctuated with a full-on rugby matches every three or four days.
Size of country, safety, friendliness and ‘rugby nuttiness’ must make NZ the best Lions tour. There’s only one way to find out. Start saving now!
It would have been nice to stay on with Gonzo and Charlie for the tests but I think it might have killed me.
10 days
v 1st Test (Auckland) (L) v 2nd Test (Wellington) (W)
2nd Test – obviously. To see the ABs beaten in their backyard was something special.
Bumping into an eighty year old man in a backwater town in the middle of nowhere and having a 30 minute conversation about rugby. The guy, a retired farmer, knew more about rugby than the two of us put together.
The Coromandel peninsular and Mount Manganui were spectacular and we had fantastic weather. The K Road in Auckland at 4am also deserves a mention.
20+ [editors note: due to concern for their well being they did not drink on 3 of the 10 days they were there so hitting these daily averages is pretty full-on].
Too many to mention but the first night in Auckland was hard yaka (former Brecon RFC player and Kiwi Sam Walsh allegedly spent $385 on tequila between 10pm and 2am). The second day was pretty good too, it was the day of first test and we were on it from 9.45am and went through to 5.40am the next morning (including a visit to the notorious K Road where we discovered that we are in fact bisexual lovers).
We'd never ever seen the All Blacks lose and we're getting on a bit so to see them lose in their own capital city was something special. Our cameo on Sky TV before kick- off was pretty funny too.
Nope. Gonzo is in charge and, as a member of the emergency services, he’s not keen on Johannesburg.
This visit has inspired us to return, what a great country! Oh, and by the way, the rumour that we are a couple is completely untrue.
BRECON RFC
CALLY JAMES
Johnny Morris, Charlie and Gonzo provide an insight into their trips to down under to follow the Lions...
BRECON RFC
BRECON RFC IN NEW ZEALAND ‘STALKING THE LIONS’
This season has seen Cally play in the Coleg y Cymoedd First XV team which progressed to the final of the Welsh Colleges Cup where the lost to Coleg Sir Gar. They also progressed to the final of the British Colleges Cup Final in Birmingham where they beat Seevic College 74 – 12.
He was also selected for the Blues U18’s Regional side and started in every game in the Regional series. After good performances at Regional level he was picked for the U18 Welsh squad and took part in the International series against Scotland, Canada and Ireland in which the Welsh side won two matches only losing to Ireland by one point.
Congratulations Cally and all the best for next season.
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