Game time in Dunedin.

Dunedin burst into life on Saturday as the city prepared to host its first Rugby World Cup game in twenty four years. Walking around the town after a couple of days now and you could see the swell in numbers of supporters from both sides eager to take in the crunch match in pool B.

Parts of the centre of the city where shut off for local bands to treat an appreciative audience to some local music. As we wandered the streets it’s was getting clear abundance of Argentinean on the streets, in full costume and full voice. Cars streamed passed with groups of Pumas fans beeping horns and waving flags at everyone making it clear they where in town.

 On the other side of the fence the England fans kept a relatively low profile, relaxing in bars and catching up on pool B rivals Scotland who played Romania. English support away from home across all sports is admired across the world, why such a lack in numbers I wondered. Initial estimates from the local council pitched 13,000 England fans would descend on Dunedin. But it seemed not even half of those had arrived.

Come game time wandering from our cheap student digs towards the impressive Forsyth Barr stadium a couple more England fans added to the atmosphere. Disappointingly chants of “Vamos Argentina” rang out as we walked towards the beautiful 30,000 venue.

Then it clicked, it wasn’t all Argentinean’s who made the 6,000 mile journey to Dunedin. It was passionate local support who where swelling the numbers of the Puma’s fan base. Decked out in anything they could find to support the underdogs (mainly soccer shirts with Messi on the back) they joined in as if seasoned fans of the South American side. It just shows how passionate the locals are for the game in Dunedin, especially how eager they are to embrace any side that in playing at the Forsyth Barr stadium.

 Arriving early into the impressive indoor venue you could feel the atmosphere bubbling over. With steep banked seating close to the sidelines you just knew the action inside coupled with passionate underdog support would make this a tricky match up for the English.

 

The game was a tight close affair and the passionate away support proving an initial stumbling block for the English. The Puma fans where in full voice during the game and this was boosted further by the acoustics in the roofed venue. In a tense game in which Johnny Wilkinson missed five kicks, before Ben Youngs scored his second test try with just 13 minutes before final whistle, With the English scraping to victory winning 13-9.

Perhaps the fierce atmosphere coupled with no wind in the world's first fully-enclosed grass arena, was the reason for the talismanic Wilkinson’s lack of accuracy through the posts. Let’s hope he and England can improve in the next match up against Georgia at the Forsyth Barr stadium. 

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