Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Rai Valley kids pumped for ABs test
When asked who the All Blacks were playing, the kids knew the team started with the letter ‘a’. Not Alaska, nor Asia, although those options were put forward.
They knew that Argentina was ‘somewhere’, and were fairly confident they knew the rules of the game. However, there was one thing that young Stella Mant was confident in, ‘‘I know the All Blacks are going to win!’’
‘Really, really excited’ describes the Rai Valley school student who will be watching her first live All Blacks rugby game in Nelson this September.
Stella said her mum snapped up the tickets for the game as soon as they were released and will be watching ‘in the stands somewhere’.
The Rai Valley school pupils almost took the roof off the usually quiet library when deputy principal Mike Wilson told the kids to ‘cheer like you were at the game!’
‘‘We always watch the All Blacks on TV,’’ she said.
‘‘We do the haka with them. Dad always videos us doing it,’’ Stella said.
The game will be Trafalgar Park’s first ever All Black test match, beating out Hamilton and Christchurch for the honour.,.
Commercial & Marketing Manager for the Tasman Rugby Union Les Edwards said that tickets are moving very quickly. ‘‘There’s a buzz in town.’’ ‘‘There are tickets left in the north stand and that’s it.’’
The 7000 seat stadium will bring in 14,000 temporary seats for the event, bringing the stadium’s capacity to 22,000.
‘‘The stadium is being built as we speak,’’ Edwards said.
The event is estimated to bring $9 million into the region.
‘‘We’ve been working very hard for the last six months selling a bundled Mako season and All Blacks tickets,’’ Edwards said. ‘‘That’s our legacy, building a strong season base.’’
‘‘There are a lot of Blenheim people coming over.’’
There are two Mako games scheduled in Blenheim before the All Black test match, against Canterbury and Southland.
‘‘That will allow the work to continue at Trafalgar Park,’’ Edwards said.