Rugby World Cup 2023 – Black magic works for New Zealand at Chaban-Delmas

Shaaban-Delmas was shaken on Monday. Ten thousand people in the stands, refreshment stands open, music blaring from the speakers, and a giant applause even before the ball appears on the field. It was a real match atmosphere in Purdue during the first (and certainly only) training session open to the All Blacks fans. Black magic still works. There was no doubt about it as the ten thousand (free) places available for this event were all exhausted in less than thirty minutes, while the planned capacity for this training was increased by three thousand places due to high demand.
Despite the volatile weather and heavy rain at the start of the session, the atmosphere did not calm down during the forty-five minutes that the All Blacks spent on the field in Chaban-Delmas. “It is a unique opportunity to see this legendary team because they will not play any matches in Bordeaux during the World Cup.”An excited mother who came with her whole family. The children in attendance were especially waiting to see the Barrett brothers and half Aaron Smith in action, whose names kept appearing in the stands.

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“When you love rugby, you obviously love the All Blacks.”

Each move was warmly welcomed and concluded with a try, which caught the All Blacks off guard such as three-quarter center Rieko Ioane: “We’ve discussed it amongst ourselves, it’s the first time for many of us that we’ve seen so many people in a simple training session. There are more people here than at some Super Rugby matches. We’re enjoying this encouragement and this support.” From the fans. We love the French! They support us. We really appreciate the support they give us. We are back from Toulouse, and whether there or here, we really love all this support.”The All Blacks were also able to measure this love during the welcome party upon their arrival in Lyon. “When you love rugby, you obviously love the All Blacks.”Could we hear from the Girondin supporters in attendance. Ian Foster’s players, who trained for a week in Bordeaux, did not fail to communicate with the audience, as they participated in the applause at the end of training and then made time to contact the fans, sign autographs and take souvenir photos.

Monga discovers the area

Joe Schmidt, former Clermont manager and now assistant coach Ian Foster, also took the floor to thank the fans in attendance in French, accompanied by city mayor Pierre Hormick and his counterpart from the Beagles, Clément Rossignol-Bois.

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For his part, Richie Monga admitted that he was discovering the region for the first time: “I know we make a lot of wine here. Maybe the guys will taste it this week. But that’s all I know to be honest.” It is not certain that Ian Foster would cede this pleasure to these players, as he is counting on this week of training in Bordeaux: “A week without a match is always a difficult thing to negotiate at a World Cup. It provides some relief, but we have scheduled two very intense training sessions to work hard. We haven’t been able to do many physical exercises yet and we have the opportunity.”