Following the reopening of Stadium Christchurch, former All Black and Canterbury star Andrew Mehrtens reflects on his home ground...
The stadium must have had some special memories for you even as a young boy?
My first experience was probably going along to games with my father and my grandfather when it was still Lancaster Park. It's still a name that I love and it's probably always going to stay Lancaster Park in my heart. I remember walking to the game, parking miles away and that long walk to the stadium and the hustle and bustle of getting out of the stadium. I also remember watching guys like Wayne Smith, Robbie Deans and Jock Hobbs when they had their shield era from 1982-85. That was a very formative period in my life and probably for a lot of guys of my generation.
As a player, I remember one match in 1994 when I was first playing for Canterbury. We were getting maybe 5,000 staunch supporters along to the stadium to watch us. Then we won the Ranfurly Shield up in Waikato and we came back and played a challenge against Counties. When we ran out, suddenly there were 35,000 people in the stands. I think most of the guys just about wanted to turn around and run back into the changing room, it was that much of a shock to them. We've been very lucky since then to have that sort of an atmosphere, pretty much regularly.
Another highlight would be the Crusaders Super 12 Final in 2002. We went the entire season unbeaten and then we beat the Brumbies, who turned out to be our traditional Super 12/Super 14 foes. It was an epic game and to enjoy that feeling of having won every game and then winning our first home Final. We'd won three on the road previously and that was the first one at home. It turned out to be a reasonably comfortable victory but it was a memorable moment as well.
Is there something special about playing in front of a Canterbury crowd?
I think the Canterbury crowd is very passionate, very vocal and I would obviously rather work with that than against it. I am very lucky that I never had to play at Stadium Christchurch as an opposition. There are not many places in New Zealand that you can say really give you a big home crowd advantage, but I would say that Stadium Christchurch does. It's helped us out on a number of occasions.
It's obvious when you are playing attacking Rugby and scoring lots of tries but there were many occasions when we also had a pretty brutal defence and I just remember the crowd taking a huge delight in seeing the Crusaders hold out a team five metres out from their own line, against wave after wave of attack and then finally turn the ball over and kick it down the field. The crowd just absolutely went mad. I am sure that our defence over the years fed off that. You could hear the buzz and we got closer towards our goal line it was like the crowd was packing in behind you. It really was an incredible feeling. It was a huge thing to have behind us and still is.
What was it like playing as an All Black on your home turf?
The first time I was so nervous and so emotional. It was in my second year with the All Blacks in 1996 and we were playing South Africa in the Tri Nations. It was the most nervous I've been in an All Black test. I think it was the first time we'd played them since the World Cup the year before and it was an ugly game. We won, but I just remember being really emotional leading up to that game on my home ground.
I love playing at home as an All Black anywhere in New Zealand, but there was just something extra special about playing at a ground that you are so familiar with. I love playing there at the best of times and then you put on the All Blacks jersey and it's almost like you get a chance to welcome the rest of the All Blacks onto your turf.
Your family has a long history with Canterbury Rugby, does that add to your bond with the stadium?
I remember always sneaking a look at my grandfather and my father's Canterbury Rugby jerseys. I remember Dad getting them out of the cupboard and having a look at those was always a pretty proud moment. To be honest I never dreamed that I would be able to play for Canterbury as well. I've been lucky to be able to do that but then to also play in a place as passionate as Canterbury, in a stadium as good as Lancaster Park was a dream.
It is such a good stadium. It also enjoys such strong local support and I guess in these days of Rugby, in many places in the world you find that a lot of the big stadiums, while they are impressive, have lost a wee bit of their local soul. So to be able to retain that parochialism is very important. Certainly in Canterbury, as anyone will tell you who has faced Canterbury, we are lucky.
Do you think that will carry over into RWC 2011?
Rugby World Cup is a chance for the whole country to showcase itself and I think it's also a chance to show our diversity. While we are a small country, each region is slightly different and can add a bit of local flavour. I think Canterbury, at the same time as being proudly New Zealand, can be proudly Cantabrian as well.
We've got a great bunch of matches in Christchurch and some very good teams based there. So I think the whole thing is going to be a very exciting time. It's going to come upon us very quickly so it's important we get everything in place and it's great to see that the Stadium is all ready to go. We were home just before Christmas and I had a chance to look around the new stand. I think it is a great modern version of the famous, proud old Lancaster Park.
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The beloved stadium opened its doors last week to reveal a significant upgrade including the new 13,000 seat Deans Stand. The redevelopment has significantly increased the stadium's permanent capacity to nearly 40,000.
The refurbished stadium will host five pool matches and two quarter-final matches for Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) but will continue to have an important economic, social and cultural impact on the city of Christchurch and surrounding Canterbury region.