All Blacks to distribute Fiji test tickets to young teams from Canterbury - Rugby News
Several players from the All Blacks side will visit the earthquake-hit city of Christchurch on July 18 to distribute tickets for their upcoming test match against Fiji. The single test will be played between Pacific Nations sides to raise funds for the people
of Christchurch on July 22, in Dunedin.
The test match will be a season-opener for New Zealand, which will engage in the Tri-Nations Cup 2011 the next day. The Tri-Nations Cup will be played among the South Africa New Zealand and Australia Rugby (SANZAR) nations, kicking off on July 23.
The All Blacks delegation consists of Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, and Adam Thomson, who will hand over tickets to thank those voluntaries who actively participated in the earthquake relief activities. They will also distribute the sponsored tickets to the young
local teams to invite them to watch the game live on Friday.
Talking about the upcoming match against Fiji, the New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive, Steve Tew, told the media that the charity match was finalised approximately two months ago. He further said that the entire funds collected will be give to the Government's
Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.
Steve Tew also said that, "New Zealand Rugby and many of our partners have joined together to create some great initiatives aimed at supporting this test match for Canterbury. New Zealand Rugby and many of our partners have joined together to create some
great initiatives aimed at supporting this test match for Canterbury,"
He also said that, "The players in Christchurch tomorrow will present four of these jerseys to the representatives of the Christchurch City Council, NZ Fire Service, St John Ambulance and NZ Police."
Talking about the impact of the single test against Fiji, the NZRU boss said that the competition will help them point out flaws in the team before the Tri-Nations and Rugby World Cup 2011.
Meanwhile, Fiji is visiting New Zealand despite stern travel sanctions on its players by the Kiwi government. New Zealand had banned the Fijian military or military affiliated persons to travel to its soil back in 2006, when a military cope toppled the civilian
government. New Zealand mae the ban conditional and said that it would drop the restrictions with the restoration of democracy.
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