More than 20,000 spectators ... Professional rugby celebrated its comeback in a stadium with the presence of a large audience in Dunedin, in the far south of New Zealand, to witness the success of the local franchise on Saturday. Otago Highlanders on the Waikato Chiefs.
While many competitions are held behind closed doors, this meeting is the first major sporting event in the world to have taken place with an audience authorized to come without restriction to fill the stands of a stadium since the start of the coronavirus epidemic. in mid-March.
The party was beautiful and the suspense at the rendezvous: a minute before the end, Bryn Gatland, who came into play a few minutes earlier, offered a drop victory over the wire to the Highlanders 28 to 27.
This meeting inaugurated Super Rugby Aotearoa, a version of Super Rugby "confined" to New Zealand, pitting the five local Super Rugby franchises, the annual competition usually bringing together teams from the four major nations of the Southern Hemisphere --New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Argentina--.
With Carter's congratulations
This great comeback was greeted by one of the great stars of New Zealand rugby, the opener Dan Carter, double world champion (2011, 2015): “Bravo New Zealand. Professional sports live only a few minutes ago, ”he tweeted just after the final whistle. Many sports competitions had already resumed before this Super Rugby Aotearoa, but behind closed doors or with a limited number of spectators.
Spectators appreciated finding their way to the stadium in New Zealand, a country of 5 million inhabitants largely spared by the pandemic (22 deaths) and which lifted the last restrictions on Monday. “It's so good to be here. This is the first time I have come to see a rugby match, "said Pauline, stressing that, no matter what the sport, she relishes the exhilaration of taking a crowd again.
"Watching live rugby with a crowd in the stadium is something I didn't expect to see anytime soon," said South African TV commentator Kaunda Ntunja.
On the ground, the show was at the height of the event. With a nice wink at the end of the match: Bryn Gatland gave the victory to the Highlanders at the expense of the Chiefs, whose coach is his ... father, Warren, former coach of the XV of Wales and the Lions British.
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