Rugby World Cup pre-match Dinner

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Te manuhiri tuarangi, te manuhiri waewaetapu nau mai haere mai.  Kia ora koutou katoa. Distinguished visitors who have travelled from afar and especially those of you here for your first visit welcome, but greetings to you all.  In particular, Your Excellency Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa and the Rt Hon Carwyn Jones, First Minister of the Welsh Government: Janine and I welcome you both to Government House.  

Our being here is to do with a competition so I thought I would use that theme for my pre-match comments.  Before I do start with my comments, I ask that we pause and reflect on the events that unfolded and resulted in the death of so many many people 10 years ago.

Keeping in mind the necessity of getting to tonight’s game on time, I will stick to the ABC of speaking, and keep my comments accurate, brisk, and concise – well mostly!  The nature of the competition that started on Friday evening is that there will ultimately be a winning side and 19 losing sides.  Albeit early in the competition, it’s with some relief that tonight’s match doesn’t involve the All Blacks, which means I can watch without the usual “nerves”!  Tonight we will no doubt see a grand competition – two good rugby teams, with great rugby traditions playing entertaining rugby.
Reflecting on the competition, and given the three-way nature of our gathering, I want to share two moments in the rugby history of New Zealand: one with South Africa and and one with Wales.  They serve to show that there is more to the game than the 80 minutes of playing time.  In my view, the actions of individuals, teams and people in winning or losing can define that competition. 

First with respect to South Africa, I was brought up on the stories of the fierce competition and rivalry between the All Blacks and the Springboks. It took the All Blacks many attempts to win a series against them. That rugby competition in our more recent past highlights wider changes in both countries.   This year, for example, marks the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Springbok rugby tour that so bitterly divided New Zealanders.

But it is a match 14 years later that I want to highlight.  New Zealanders continue to rue the All Blacks’ 15-12 loss to South Africa in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final at Ellis Park, and we have all sorts of reasons (excuses really) that explain our loss!  One year after South Africans elected Nelson Mandela to be their first truely democratically elected President, bringing to an end the scourge of apartheid, the final has a significance that extends beyond our wounded national pride. 
 
President Mandela understood the power of sport.  As he said: “Sport has the power to change the world.  It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”  His decision to wear a Springbok jersey and cap to the game, and to present the Webb Ellis Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar were powerful gestures that extended beyond the game – the competition.
 
If I now turn to Wales. Our association dates back to the earliest times of the game. However, I want to highlight a rugby clash 65 years ago between Wales and New Zealand that is not well known.  It was not a game where the full All Blacks participated, but was instead played by the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force Army Rugby Team, dubbed the “Khaki All Blacks.”  Many of those soldiers went on to become full All Blacks after the war.

In 1945-46 the team toured Britain and France before returning home from the Second World War, losing only three of their 38 games.  They beat full international sides in England and France, but not Scotland.  Most famously, however, on 5 January 1946, before a crowd that included their commander, and my predecessor as Governor-General, Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg, they became the first national team from New Zealand  to defeat Wales. They did that at Cardiff Arms Park no less, winning 11-3.
  
That team played with three principles—position, possession and pace.  They are words that encapsulate almost any successful sporting team, and watching the rugby games since Friday it would seem that they are as relevant today as they were then for winning teams.  To those three points, I would also add a fourth: passion, which exemplifies the sentiment that the people of Wales, South Africa and New Zealand bring to the game of rugby and it will probably determine which team wins tonight.

Tonight, I have a foot in both camps– the first, in relation to South Africa, is to do with southern hemisphere rugby, and the second because the head coach of Wales, Warren Gatland, is a New Zealander. 

Reflecting on position, possession, pace and passion, and the assurance that my support will be evenly distributed to both sides during the course of tonight’s game, I am able to say without bias: May the best team win the competition and may the better team win tonight!
 
I once again welcome you all to Government House and to New Zealand and trust you will enjoy the hospitality of the House this evening and of course the game.