Six Years 2

I am not sure, but I think the person with his hand on the ball here is Isaac Ross. He is a new All Black, and is playing against France, at Carisbrook, Dunedin. I have done no research on this, but I think he is 22, which is young for a lock. Though the All Blacks lost this game, (rather than the French winning it), this new lock had a good game, and went even better in the second test a week later. The point I am making is that the difference between him and those who play in the under 16 or under 17 grades is only 6 years. I wonder if Isaac's parents thought of him being an All Black when he was 16? Of course they did, his father was an All Black as well.
I will watch this guy with interest, as I have really enjoyed watching that other powerhouse of All Black forward play, Brad Thorn.

TRY!

'Rippa Rugby' is a game played by small boys and girls to teach the basics of Rugby; passing, running, tackling. This photo was taken at Carisbrook, Dunedin. The team with the green and black tops are the Alexandra under 7 years Rippa team, who travelled down to play the curtain raiser before the All Blacks played France. The team in black here are the Pirates Rugby Club, Dunedin. The photo shows a try being scored beside the posts by one of the boys from Alexandra, in fact one of the many scored by this 'green team'. I was quite proud watching the little guys from my home town having a good win, and it reminded me of those times when our children played on this ground. From memory, we always had day matches, but I may be wrong. With one of my boys I got onto the ground as the water boy, and in with the water bottles I had a Nikon F4 and a couple of rolls of film. The coach was quick to point out to the boys that I would be taking photos of the tries being scored on Carisbrook, so there was a certain amount of desperation to score, resulting in a good win to our team.
Carisbrook has a limited life left, so I was pleased to get this and some other photos.