Why Can't Larry the Lamb & Other Air NZ Cup Rugby Sports Mascots Get Along?

Larry the Lamb, mascot for the Red & Blacks - Canterbury - forms a rolling maul with the competition until someone illegally drags it down. Full arm penalty, I think. Followed by a free-for- all, leading to a collective sin binning. Turbo Man seems to be, ah, winded. Larry looks, well, sheepish then decides to take it outside chasing Auckland's Seagull, presumably to pluck a few feathers out of that sorry bird's tail. A bit like how the real competition is going.

Just as well the pedantic rugby ref, Mr Lawrence, isn't on the scene or they'd all get red-carded.

Show us the love, indeed.

The song is "Why Does Love Do This To Me?" by The Exponents, a Christchurch band. The song is a favourite of rugby crowds, especially at Rugby Sevens competitions.

Cass - Art, Nature, and the Engineer

Cass, circa 1936, by Rita Angus. courtesy of the Rita Angus estate & the Christchurch City Art Gallery. Transcript of an introduction to Angus' "Cass" here.

As he pulls through Cass, does the loco driver catch the railway shed in the corner of his eye? Does it trigger thoughts of one of New Zealand's best known paintings by one of her best known artists, Rita Angus? Does he muse upon the contrasting vertical and horizontal lines of man-made structures and the swirling clouds and rolling hills? Or does he stare fixedly at the signal up ahead - dare one say it, with tunnel vision - as the on-coming coal train enters the west-bound track of the Cass loop?

Double header coal train eastbound through Cass on a hot summer's day, 2007.

Gone within 5 minutes from this scorching hot, dusty place the trains part in opposite directions leaving behind the mute, solitary shed.

Cass is 116 kilometers northwest of Christchurch in Canterbury. The Midland railway line was extended from Christchurch to Cass in 1910. With the completion of the Otira tunnel through the Southern Alps, between Otira and Arthur's Pass, the Midland line connected Canterbury and the West Coast by rail for the first time. The six day stage coach journey at the turn of the century was replaced by a one day train journey, increasing the flow of people and goods in both directions.

Canterbury Takes Air New Zealand Rugby Cup Final

In a cliff-hanger final, Canterbury kept a nose ahead of Wellington in the Air New Zealand Cup final to win 7-6 in wet and slippery conditions in Wellington that contributed to an error riddled game.

Resolute defence, a hallmark of this year's team, made all the difference in Canterbury's favour in a low scoring game played in poor weather conditions.

Canterbury now adds the Cup to the Super 14 trophy the Canterbury Crusaders won earlier in the season and can justifiably claim to be New Zealand's champion provincial side.

Canterbury Through to Air New Zealand Cup Rugby Final

Canterbury fought off Hawke's Bay, 31-21, in their Air NZ Cup semi-final to move through to the final next weekend against Wellington.

In a tightly contested game, the Magpies proved themselves worthy opponents with the score tied at 14-14 midway through the second half. But the Red n' Blacks' two tries within two minutes of each other sealed the game in Canterbury's favour.

Canterbury will have its work cut out to get the better of Wellington in the final, although the Lions had difficulty putting their stamp on their semi-final with Southland till the last ten minutes, pulling through 28-19.

The underdogs have youth, enthusiasm and determination with a fair amount of skill on their side and that might make all the difference in the final.

Meantime, the Silver Ferns netball team turned up the heat on England in the 3rd and decisive test with a scorching 61-22 win in Palmerston North. Having inexplicably crashed 38-40 against England in the 2nd test after a comprehensive 1st test win, the Silver Ferns pulled things around in time to head off to Australia where a much greater challenge awaits them in the form of the 2007 World Champions in a two test series starting next Sunday.

The Canterbury Nor'wester

Nga ra o te waru - the time of scarcity - as norwesters dry out the Canterbury Plains in January-February, the height of summer.

The Press in Christchurch reports that early spring gale force norwesters have fanned scrub fires in two locations around Canterbury, both starting from agricultural burn-offs. Such fires are but small echoes of the burn-offs precipitated by natural causes before human settlement and those successfully practiced by both Maori hunters and Pakeha farmers, the latter on a much wider scale in the 19th century.

The severe northwest gales extended over the Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough and Canterbury, with the highest wind gust of 158kmh being recorded on the Rimutakas north of Wellington.

New Zealand's oceanic climate leads to highly changeable weather conditions that any Kiwi will readily tell you about. Indeed, New Zealand band, Crowded House, sing of Four Seasons in One Day:

More on Canterbury's weather patterns & variability - a cool, wet southerly often quickly follows the hot, drying northwesterly leading to a sharp drop in temperature - can be found here.

Norwesters not only cause hot, dry conditions that can result in drought conditions and the need for irrigation in Canterbury agriculture, but can - under the right conditions - cause flooding on the plains because of heavy rains deposited in the mountains.

Tawhirimatea, god of weather, struggles to control his children, clouds & storms (the blue spirals). C Whiting, artist.

In Maori creation mythology (more here), Tawhirimatea, god of winds and storms, angered by the separation of his parents Ranginui (Rangi,sky father) and Papatuanuku (Papa, earth mother) by his siblings, sought revenge on his brothers Tane Mahuta (god of the forests), Tangaroa (god of the sea), Rongomātāne (god of cultivated food, eg kumara) and Haumia-tikitiki (god of uncultivated food such as the fern root). Tawhirimatea laid flat Tane's forests, caused waves to grow as large as mountains, and the kumara and fern root to burrow deep into Papa, the earth mother.

Finally, Tawhirimatea turned on his brother Tumatauenga, (god of war and people).

Tumatauenga, god of war & people. C Whiting artist.

Unlike his other siblings, Tumatauenga proved equal to his brother of the winds. Ever since those early times, the weather and people have been locked in a continual struggle that neither one can win.

So that, as Crowded House advise, "Everywhere You Go, Always Take The Weather With You" - more accurately, you have little choice but to learn to live with it, for better or worse:

Canterbury Cricket Want Hagley Oval as Test Cricket Venue

The Canterbury Cricket Association (CCA) and New Zealand Cricket want Hagley Oval located in Hagley Park to serve as the CCA’s headquarters and the provincial and test cricket venue in Christchurch.

They'll have to move the sheep first.... Actually, this is North Hagley Park, the Oval is in South Hagley Park and the sheep are long gone. Postcard by Muir & Moodie circa 1905

Christchurch has been denied a test venue since Canterbury cricket was no longer able to use Lancaster Park, now AMI stadium for its games or for test cricket over a decade ago. Since then Canterbury games have been played at QE II's Village Green – a wind swept, sunburn bowl.

Canterbury Wizards v Northern Districts, Jan 6 2007 at the QE II Village Green

Moving the venue back closer to the centre of the city would be a return to the location of Canterbury cricketing activity at the club level over many decades. Spectators might enjoy some more tree shade too.

Perhaps too the cricketing elite will be more comfortable back in Hagley, adjacent to the Christ College sports grounds, and away from the less affluent suburbs of the north-eastern coastal suburbs. The well-heeled will have an easier time of it coming in from the upper class neighbourhoods of the north-western suburbs and be able to enjoy their cricket in a more "English-like" setting. Christchurch is still a class-divided town.

The CCA says Hagley “will be a Cricket Oval not an Entertainment Venue with AMI Stadium continuing to host International One Day and Twenty20 Internationals. At Hagley, we envisage low grass embankments and sympathetic refurbishment of the existing buildings for facilities and to house Canterbury Cricket’s offices.”

The Christchurch City Council will hold a meeting on September 11 to consider whether to recommend the Hagley Oval be adopted as Canterbury’s cricket venue.

Let's hope the Christchurch Council & Canterbury Cricket don't hit their stumps on this one...