I have been living in Hong Kong for four years now and, I have to admit, in that time I have personally met more Wallaby and All Blacks (current and legends) here than I have Springboks.

Because of annual Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens, as well as the SA Association Dinner (and the recent Invictus movie) I have had the privilege of meeting South African legends such as Naas Botha, Marius Hurter, Bob Skinstad, Kobus Wiese, Butch James, as well as SA commentator and former Junior-Bok Hugh Bladen.

Given one or two names that eludes me at 00:15 in the Hong Kong morning, I can probably count the Bok legends I have met here on two hands.

On the other hand I have met numerous Assie and Kiwis (current and ex-players) here in Hong Kong mainly because of the Bledisloe Cup games in 2008 and 2010 as well as promotional events in the run-up to the 2011 Rugby Wold Cup (RWC) in New Zealand later this year.

One of these legends, John (JK) Kirwan was in Hong Kong just last week when his team Japan played hosts Hong Kong in the Asian5Nations Tournament.

I had met the RWC Winner on another previous occasion in Hong Kong when he represented the New Zealand Tourism organisation in the the build-up to RWC 2011.

And what a speaker JK is!

I caught up with Kirwan at a HSBC/ARFU coaching clinic at the HK Football Club recently and asked him some questions:

The IRB’s Total Rugby today posted the following video of JK, recorded while he was here in Hong Kong:

I took some pictures while Kirwan was here in Hong Kong:

HSBC/ARFU Coaching Clinic

Japan vs. Hong Kong (Asian5Nations)

The New Zealand All Blacks has played Australia’s Wallabies in Hong Kong on two occasions as part of the Bledisloe Cup.  Sadly it seems that 2010 was the last year local fans of the two Antipodean rugby greats will have seen a Bledisloe match played in the SAR.

The All Blacks and Wallabies will contest the Bledisloe Cup over three Tests under a revamped format to take effect in 2012, the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions announced Saturday.

The new arrangement replaces the present system where the Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman rugby supremacy, is contested as part of the Tri-Nations tournament which also involves South Africa.

From next year, the third and possibly deciding match will be hosted alternately between the two countries, following their home and away clashes in the Tri-Nations.

The first additional Bledisloe Cup Test will be hosted by Australia in October 2012 and there are no plans to take it to a neutral venue as has happened in recent years.

Hong Kong fans pose with some players and the Bledisloe Cup (Pic: Mike Jansen 2010)

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said the additional Test was part of a new All Blacks schedule which includes three Tests in June, the expanded Tri-Nations which takes in Argentina from 2012, and the end of year northern hemisphere tour.

“Our expectation, supported by feedback from our fans, is that a three-match Bledisloe Cup Series will be keenly followed and fits well into our season,” Tew said.

Fan research in both Australia and New Zealand supported the Bledisloe Cup being contested over a three-match series, rather than two as it was for many years prior to the expansion of the Tri Nations, Tew added.

Mike Jansen took the following pictures at last year’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Hong Kong:

(1) The Fan Day

(2) Match Day

(3) Bledisloe Cup: Hong Kong 2008

The All Blacks recently visited Hong Kong to play Australia in their final Bledisloe Cup event.  While they ended up losing the scintilating match at the Hong Kong stadium, their Hong Kong visit was a key opportunity to promote their country and particularly the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

If like me, you’re planning to attend the World Cup, you have another chance to learn more about that beautiful country (and try some of their delicious cheeses and wines!)

The New Zealand Society has invited South Africans to join them in a Cheese and Wine evening on Friday, 26th November at the NZ Focus Centre, 439-445 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay.

The New Zealand Focus Centre is a well-known landmark in Causeway Bay and is unfortunately closing down. This event is therefore the last opportunity to enjoy a range of NZ white and red wines, NZ beer and non-alcoholic drinks plus NZ cheeses and finger foods.

Tickets are HK$200. Please register and pay for the event by 20 November by contacting Travis Pittman at tjpittman@me.com. Please make your cheque payable to the “New Zealand Society of Hong Kong” and get the banking details from Travis. Please note that no “walk-ins” are allowed on the night of the event.

Find the New Zealand Society here

Despite only arriving in the city this morning, the New Zealand All Blacks met their fans at the very first DHL Hong Kong 2010 Bledisloe Cup Fans Day.  Their Australian rivals who arrived yesterday also made time to pose for pictures and hand out autographs ahead of the third-ever Bledisloe Cup clash on neutral soil.

For both sides, the HK stopover will be match 1 of their respective end-of-year European Tours that come after an arduous domestic and international season of Super 14 and Tri-Nations tournaments.  Some of the players also played in the championship Sevens match of the Delhi Commonwealth Games only a few days ago, where New Zealand walked away with the Gold Medal and Australia won Silver.  

A busy week of practice sessions and media engagements await both teams for the rest of the week before they clash in the DHL Hong Kong 2010 Bledisloe Cup at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday.

Word is that some 25 000 tickets have been sold thus far and while it means the Stadium may only be half-full come Saturday, the respective teams have promised nothing less than a test-match quality game.

“There is no such thing as a dead rubber between the All Blacks and Wallabies,” New Zealand coach Graham Henry reiterated in a tele-conference last week.

Fans who want to attend the match can still book their tickets at HKTicketing.

Kick-off is at 4:30pm

Here are some of the images I took at So Kon Po earlier today:

With their Hong Kong clash doubling as the final preparation for the traditional end-of-year tour, both New Zealand and Australia are set to make the third-ever Bledisloe Cup match to be played on neutral soil a “ferocious” one.

New Zealand Rugby Union CEO Steve Tew said, “Both the New Zealand and Australian rugby unions are fully supportive of the Hong Kong fixture and are committed to bringing one of world rugby’s legendary matches back to Asia. The upcoming end of year tour is vital for both teams going into 2011 and I know the All Blacks will be looking to put in a strong performance to kick off their tour on the back of a successful Tri Nations campaign.”

After New Zealand’s last gasp 23-22 victory last week in Sydney, both teams have everything to play for as they finalize their preparations for their tours of the northern hemisphere. On October 30, spectators will be treated to some ferocious on-pitch action amid the famous rugby atmosphere of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Stadium.

ARU Managing Director and CEO John O’Neill concurred: “The quality of Rugby in this year’s Bledisloe Cup series has been outstanding. These are the best two teams in world Rugby and the one-point separating them in Sydney last Saturday night underlines the closeness of the contest.

There is also no doubt that the game, as it is currently being played in the Southern Hemisphere, is as exciting as it has been at any other time in memory. At the international level there has been a plethora of tries and consistently scintillating attacking Rugby.

However, the ferocity of the trans-Tasman matches has not been compromised whatsoever. We’re confident the match in Hong Kong will be another entertainment package no sporting fan would want to miss.”

Trevor Gregory, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) said, “The HKRFU and thousands of sports fans in Hong Kong and around the region are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the teams and we look forward to welcoming them with Hong Kong’s famous hospitality.

With the world’s two top ranked teams set to contest the latest match in their century-old rivalry, the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong promises to be another historic moment in Hong Kong rugby and I encourage people to get their tickets today.”

To date, over 14,000 tickets have been sold for the 40,000-seater Hong Kong Stadium and sales are expected to increase in the coming weeks. The HKRFU has confirmed that a sponsorship announcement will be made soon, reinforcing the strong interest in the region in the Bledisloe Cup Hong Kong match.

Tickets are available through HKTicketing

The Springboks’ last minute loss to the Wallabies in the hosts’ final Tri-Nations encounter on Saturday evening made the Sunday Morning Post‘s sports-pages on Sunday.

With Hong Kong again hosting the final Bledisloe Cup match in October this year (the previous such match took place in 2008) there is renewed interest in the Southern Hemisphere’s premier competition, the Tri-Nations.

In fact, with Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup ticket sales reported to be sluggish this year (in part due to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year) the Hong Kong rugby authorities are pinning their hopes on the Wallabies beating their Trans-Tasman opponents in next week’s final Tri-Nations encounter.  This, they hope, would make the third-ever Bledisloe Cup to be played on neutral ground more of a contest with the All Blacks having totally dominated the Tri-Nations this year.

All Blacks star flyhalf Dan Carter should be fit to play in their Bledisloe Cup match against Australia in Hong Kong in October, New Zealand captain Richie McCaw said on Monday.

Carter underwent surgery last week on a long-term ankle injury after the All Blacks wrapped up this year’s Tri-Nations championship with a 29-22 victory over South Africa.

He had been troubled by the ankle for more than three months and it started to become more of an aggravation towards the end of the Super 14 competition.

“Obviously Dan will miss our next match but the plan is for him to be available for Hong Kong,” McCaw said in a tele-conference.  “I don’t know 100 percent but he should be all right.”

Carter, who broke the record for rugby union Test points earlier this month, will miss the All Blacks’ final Tri-Nations match against Australia in Sydney on September 11.

The Hong Kong clash is on October 30, ahead of a four-Test northern hemisphere tour that sees them play England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup clash are available at HK Ticketing

For more information about the Hong Kong leg of the 2010 Bledisloe Cup, click here

(Source: Sport24)

The Springboks will take on the might of the New Zealand All Blacks during a historic rugby test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

Bruce Fowler from the Southern African Association of Hong Kong (SAAHK) invites all Saffas to join them at WoolooMooloo in Central.  The test will be broadcast at around midnight (1 hour delay).

In addition to the fact that history will be made with the first-ever rugby test being played in a township, some other milestones will/may be reached on Saturday:

* Springbok captain John Smit is set to become only the second South African to play in 100 Test matches when he leads the Boks onto the field

* Should John score a try, he will equal the Springbok record for most tries in tests as a hooker

* John will be playing in his 26^th Vodacom Tri-Nations test as captain, the most capped captain in the tournament.

* This will be the first Test match at this venue since the stadium’s completion in 1988. For the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament the stadium was known as Soccer City

* This test will be the 81st between South Africa and New Zealand and the 34th Vodacom Tri-Nations test between them

* South Africa’s Vodacom Tri-Nations record against New Zealand is: Played 33; Won 10; Lost 23. Tries scored 60 and tries conceded 84.

* Victor Matfield will play his 23rd test against New Zealand, the most capped Springbok against New Zealand. This test will also be his 40th Tri-Nations test, the third most capped player in the tournament with George Gregan (48) and George Smith (41) being the top two players.

* Bryan Habana needs one try to become South Africa’s most prolific try scorer in tests. Bryan currently shares the record with Joost van der Westhuizen with 38 test tries. Bryan will become the most capped Springbok wing (63) in this test.

Our sister-site, BlitzBokke.com made the following tribute video to Bok Skipper John Smit.  The video was subsequently featured on Sport24.co.za:

With yet another convincing win over trans-Tasman rivals Australia, New Zealand’s All Blacks retained the 2010 Bledisloe Cup (20-10).

The win in Christchurch (New Zealand) came after a 49-28 drubbing in Melbourne (Australia) a week before.

While there are still two matches to be played (Sydney September 11 and Hong Kong October 30), the All Blacks have wrapped up the 2010 contest in fine form.

This begs the question:

Will Bledisloe Cup #4 at the Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday October 30 be a boring affairs with the two teams simply going through the motions in preparation for their respective Northern Hemisphere Tours?

Yes, they will be going through the motions, but we suspect it will be anything but a boring affair.

For one, the Hong Kong leg will again serve as preparation for their Northern Hemisphere tours and the players will want to do everything they can to impress the selectors in order to feature in their respective starting line-ups for the Northern tour.

Secondly, when the two Antipodian sides last clashed in the SAR in 2008, the same situation existed with New Zealand again claiming the honours before a ball was even kicked at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po.  On that day, the Cup holders also took the honours (19-14).  Despite New Zealand lining up as Cup Champions in 2008, the HKRFU recorded an almost full-house and we predict the same will happen come October  30.

Hong Kong is a city with thousands of expatriates plying their trade in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and a large majority hail from Down Under.  Coupled with that the fact that overall, most expats come from the UK (due to historical reasons) and you have potentially at least half of the HK Stadium capacity (20,000) who will buy tickets.  Due to it’s Sevens reputation as a great party destination and it’s relative proximity to Australia and New Zealand, many supporters from Down Under will also choose to follow their sides to Hong Kong, further swelling the gate takings in So Kon Po.

While the tickets are not cheap (the most expensive category ticket will set you back almost the same as a 3-day pass for the HK Sevens at HK$1,250) most rugby fans in Hong Kong are so starved of top-class rugby that they will easily pay up. The two lower categories are selling for HK$1,000 and HK$880 respectively.

Needless to say, Howzit-HongKong.com will bring you all the action from Bledisloe #4… Live from Hong Kong.

Stay close.

Saturday evening, October 30 will find Howzit-HongKong.com no where else but at Mes Amis in WanChai. Kevin Lewis captured the 2008 fun and music at this popular watering hole in the City’s premier party district.  This is how we party in Hong Kong!

Two years ago I attended the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match (New Zealand vs. Australia) to be played outside of these two countries.

The match, in terms of interest and exposure for the two brands, was a resounding success and last year the powers-that-be decided to try that experiment on Japanese soil.  I don’t know whether the New Zealand and Australian rugby boards were not impressed with their Japan outreach experiment, but thanks be to the rugby-gods that they decided to return the final match of the Bledisloe Cup series here in Hong Kong.

With the addition of the Hong Kong match, the Bledisloe Cup will be decided over four Tests in 2010.

Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to meet three times as part of the Tri-Nations Series and then contest the fourth and final match in Hong Kong.

The 2010 Bledisloe Cup Series

Match 1: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (July 31)

Match 2: AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Aug 7)

Match 3: ANZ Stadium, Sydney (September 11)

Match 4: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong (October 30)

Tickets

SA Association

Last I heard, the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) received another ticket allocation this year.  Please contact the SAAHK’s Bruce Fowler for more information.

Hong Kong Public Sales

From 2nd August onwards (10:00am) residents in Hong Kong (Hong Kong ID Card holders) will be able to purchase tickets through HK Ticketing online: www.hkticketing.com , by phone : +852 31 288 288 or at HK Ticketing Outlets including Box Offices and Tom Lee Music Stores.

For further details, please go to www.hkticketing.com

Pricing

The entire stadium will be reserved seating. Customers will be able to choose from and reserve the available seats in the stadium and a range of price options will apply depending on the location of the seats. Tickets are priced at HK$1,250, HK$1,000 and HK$880.

Bledisloe Cup

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Kick off at 4.30pm HKT (7.30pm AEDT; 9.30pm NZT).

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong:

Click here to visit the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong website