Dolphins,Dunedin & Georgia.

Actual Wild Dolphins

So after a few days travelling around South Island we made our way back to Dunedin. It had been a pretty great few days as Greg finally got to live his dream to swim with dolphins. It was his life aim to swim with the “jesters of the sea” ever since our coach driver told everyone on route to Kaikoura a few days ago and who was I to stand in his way.

Red Hot boat action.

We donned our tight-fit wetsuits and within 45 minutes jumped into a chilly Pacific Ocean to hang out with some dolphins. I’ll be honest here I was never really fan of dolphins before this trip to New Zealand. I always thought these oversized fish where slightly smug, always smiling and performing for us humans in water parks. This all changed after a hour or so in the water with the wild dusky dolphins, my opinion of them has changed.

Playful, friendly and dare I say relatively intelligent the dolphins where fantastic. There must have been at least 15 dolphins in the group who where all eager to play with the 20 humans who braved the chilly sea. I genuinely felt humbled by staring into the eyes of that dolphin frolicking with us. Greg meanwhile was in his element goofing about with his fishy friends- bless him.

After a few days in Kaikoura we made our way back to Dunedin to hang out with our student lodgers. Unfortunately the long bus journey made me miss out on the All Blacks crushing Japan 83-7. Watching the highlights later in the evening The AB’S result certainly sent out a message to their rivals with a strong result against admittedly a weak Japanese side. Again I was impressed with Sonny Bill Williams who was good value in his second half run-out with two good tries.

Onto Saturday and we had a bumper day of rugby ahead of us with three games to take in. Argentina looked impressive against Romania with a 43-8 victory, and the Puma’s certainly look like dark horses in this tournament. The most impressive victory from the trio of games was South Africa. The Springboks struggled in a tight opening game against Wales, but brushed off an unusually under par Fiji side 49-3.Danie Rossouw looked particularly impressive in breaking Fijian defensive lines during the game.

The final game of the day was Australia and Ireland. The game itself was tight, but thankfully Ireland got the result that I (Being part Irish and all) and the whole of New Zealand wanted. The Irish won 15-6 against a young Australian side under the stewardship of Kiwi Robbie Deans.

Most of the focus pre-match was made up about Quade Cooper. Who has been dubbed ‘public enemy number 1’ by pretty much everyone in New Zealand about his comments about AB captain Richie McCaw. Personally Quade should focus on his own game before commenting on his peers. I thought he had an absolute shocker, particularly defensively when he often backed out of the tackle.

Onto Sunday and after an evening out ‘celebrating’ the Irish win we were not the sprightliest come the morning. But we eventually mustered up some strength and made our way down to the stadium. Immediately we where greeted with the reassuring sight of St George flags everywhere. A relief, finally perhaps this match would be all English support.

Chris Ashton Swan-dives over for another England try. 

Again the people of Dunedin came out to support the underdog. Mainly students came out in force to support Georgia, with doctored English flags and painted faces the main source of support for the locals. In a game that was average from the English perspective, the biggest cheer of the night came just before half time when Dimitri Basilaia crashed over the whitewash for Georgia’s only try of the match.

Thankfully England’s superior fitness showed in the second half as the 2003 winners crashed over four times to place the match in little doubt, with Delon Armintage the standout man for England. Understandably many England fans will be frustrated with the result, especially in the light of impressive results over the weekend by New Zealand and South Africa. You can only beat what you have in front of you.

Martin Johnson made 9 changes to the team against Argentina and it showed, but that is what the World Cup is about the strength of your squad. England will have to improve for tougher tests ahead, but we got the win. Onwards to Romania, and a final weekend in Dunedin!