Rugby World Cup comes to small-town New Zealand

Rugby World Cup comes to small-town New Zealand

From subtropical Kerikeri in the far north to alpine Queenstown in the south, the Rugby World Cup will embrace small-town New Zealand.

New Zealand is, in essence, a nation of small towns; its population is only 4.5 million, 1.3 million of those in its largest city, Auckland.

Strewn across its landscape of rainforests, deserts, white-sand beaches and alpine peaks are a necklace of townships which have become the homesteads of the seventh Rugby World Cup.

Organizers could have housed teams in New Zealand's largest cities, in plush hotel with access to nightlife.

Instead, they decided to take the tournament to the people, housing teams in tiny townships which have embraced supporting roles in the world's fourth most-watched sporting event.

Fiji has been based at Ohope Beach, near Whakatane (population 18,000) on the east coast of the North Island.steeler jerseys cheap The Fijian players were moved almost to tears when the junior classes of the local primary school welcomed them to Ohope with songs and dance.

The United States team will be based, for the first part of its stay in New Zealand, at Whanganui on the west coast of the North Island. Local Maori sought to welcome the team to News Zealand by ferrying them by war canoe from their meeting place along the Whanganui River.

The Americans declined the invitation for safety reasons, then accepted when they realized they had unintentionallPittsburgh Pirates Jerseysy upset their hosts, and both groups enjoyed the day.