In Wellington this Queens Birthday weekend? Well why don't you come and meet the All Blacks in person and perhaps get their autographs.

When: Monday 2 June (Queens Birthday)
Where: Queens Wharf Square, Wellington
Time: from 5.30pm (but make sure you get there early!)

See you there!! Unless you're Chris Masoe...

There is also a charity football match at Newtown Park featuring your Wellington Phoenix FC.

Wellington gets a chance to say a fond farewell to All Black legend Tana Umaga on Saturday afternoon when he plays his final first-class game in New Zealand before heading off to start his coaching career at Toulon in France. The Wellington Lions play Manawatu at 2.35pm hoping to put their atrocious performance of last weekend behind them and give Tana the send off he deserves.

I was at Christian Cullen’s farewell, as well as the Auckland send-offs for Michael Jones and Zinzan Brooke. They were all amazing occasions and this one probably will be too.

My prediction (and feel free to ridicule me for it in the comments): Tana to be New Zealand’s first Samoan Prime Minister within 20 years.

If you're stuck for something to do next Monday night, you could do worse than to head to Porirua Park for the final of Wellington's premier one grade schoolboy rugby competition. The match is to be played between Mana College and Wellington College.

As detailed in a story in the Dom Post, Mana has made a dramatic rise through the grades after starting the year in premier two and being promoted mid-season, and to have made it to the final is nigh-on miraculous.

More, including much politicised frothing, after the jump

You have been told so don't complain to us when you miss out at 9:05am

Tickets are ONLY available online or Ticketmaster:

... only available via the Internet at www.sevens.co.nz or by calling Ticketmaster on 0800 111 999. No tickets will be available through retail outlets.

(ticket details and how to get them after the break)

The lovely people at Downstage have offered Wellingtonista-readers the chance to see the new NZ play Finding Murdoch free next Monday or Tuesday.

Reviewer John Smythe at theatreview.org.nz said of the show:

My partner loved it and rugby is not her bag. But then it’s written by a woman about a woman’s desire to achieve and understand, and it’s directed by a woman, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Which isn’t to say rugby orientated blokes won’t like it too. Heading for the car (after the Monday 6.30 show) I bumped into Keith Quinn – of sportscasting fame – and asked him if he’d just been to Finding Murdoch. “Saw it on opening night,” he said. “It’s terrific. You should go.”

There’s more about the show here, and we have 20 double-passes to give away to either Monday or Tuesday of next week. Simply email theatre@downstage.co.nz with the word “Wellingtonista” in the subject line, and the name of the All Black the play is about in the body of the email, and the magic of time-stamping will do the rest. First 20 are in.

Hadyn originally posted this over at The Dropkicks, but since we used Wellington as the example (and the map looks so nice), it seemed appropriate to cross post it over here...

The gist of the story is that the International Rugby Board, in a bid to halt 'ambush marketing' around the venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (being held in NZ, didn't you know?), is requesting a 5km advertising ban around venues where games are being played. To quote Hadyn...

Now without any bias, that is downright in-frickin-sane!

...which is entirely right. Take a look at what a 5km non-advertising zone around the Stadium would actually catch...

...yep - pretty much the entire central city and inlying suburbs. Are all those dairies going to have to take down the hoardings of non-authorised soft-drink manufacturers? Will the buses have all their advertising removed for inner-city services? Oggi's gonna take down all their billboards? Methinks: No. Way.

Do you have it? These guys do.

Seen outside Arizona this morning and sent in by a concerned Wellingtonista reader.

But even in their uni-thongs these guys have nothing on the guys diving naked into the harbour by the boatshed (no photos available, sorry ladies).

On my walk to Rawhide (see below) I saw:

• six groups of pirates
• more than a dozen netball teams
• fake construction workers
• real construction workers perving at…
• female police officers in short skirts
• no real police officers
• four groups of monks
• some mad scientists
• hundreds of drunk old men in matching Hawaiian shirts

So what's your favourite Sevens' costume team? Because we all know it's not about the rugby.

Ps. Check out Mike's photos for some good costume picks (I love the Moses.)

Santa isn't the person coming to town in the near future. But this one is almost as exciting for sports fans.

Former New Zealand Māori coach Matt Te Pou will be signing copies of his new book Against the Odds on Monday the 20th at 12pm in Whitcoulls on Lambton Quay. "Legendary" is a word used sparingly in rugby circles but there is no doubt the Matt Te Pou is legendary. And, as is often the case with true legends, a very nice guy.

Expect the book to contain plenty of scathing criticisms of the NZRU and former All Black coaches like this:

Every time a new All Blacks coach comes into office, the goal posts seem to move. The decision to put the Junior All Blacks into the Pacific Five Nations ahead of the New Zealand Maori, which was no doubt influenced by the preference of the All Black selectors, only replicated what John Hart had attempted in 1999 when he wanted to give the New Zealand A side selection preference over us.

A major sporting event is currently underway in Wellington. One that brings in more money than a n All Black test! And as you know, we are all about the dollahhs.

The Golden Oldies Rugby Tournament. 160 rugby teams and approximately 4,000 people from 16 countries.

The games will be played on Monday 30 October, Wednesday 1 November and Friday 3 November. Seventy-five games will be played each day, at 3 rugby fields around the Wellington region: Ian Galloway Park, Kilbirnie and Evans Bay Parks (which are adjacent) and Petone Recreation Ground. Games will be played between 11.00am - 5.00pm with social activities to follow. The grand finale festival party will be held at Waitangi Park on the evening of Saturday 4 November.

So get out there and support those old fellas (the oldest of whom is 97!*). And watch out for the geezers filling up the Courtenay Place bars this week.

*UPDATE: he's actually ONLY 89. Practically a spring chicken.

Photo by NZphotopro1

Rugby fever has forced its way into our consciousness, ousting football fever for another four years. Expect the fever to become seriously inflamed and critical on Saturday when the MIGHTY ALL BLACKS take on the (cough) springboks.

It should be a good contest. The All Blacks made eight changes to the team the beat the Wallabies. The Boks have made five changes to the team that lost to the Wallabies. Take from that what you will.

But from a Wellingtonista point of view, I would suggest avoiding wearing green and yellow combinations this weekend. Black should be the colour du jour, like it normally isn't here in the Capital.

Also on Saturday, expect large numbers of men, wearing black, and standing on Lambton Quay outside of women's clothing stores. This phenomenon is particularly funny when it's cold, as the men have to huddle by the doorway (never talking to one another); too scared to set foot inside in case the urge to try on a blouse overcomes them.

If you don't want to watch the rugby (or even acknowledge its existence) I suggest popping into the Matterhorn for a Jerry Collins.

When one thinks of Jerry Collins, one's mind immediately turns to ... elderflowers. That's because Matterhorn's "Jerry Collins" cocktail (a version of the classic Tom Collins) incorporates such manly ingredients as elderflower cordial and feijoa vodka. That's hardly news to Wellingtonians, but its fame has spread across the Tasman and got a whole article in the Sydney Morning Herald's "Rugby Heaven" (hat tip to Duncan in Sydney for the link).

When I asked the bar staff about it this morning, they hadn't heard of the article, but they were amused to read their boss's quote that "When the All Blacks or Hurricanes play in Wellington and feel like going to a bar for a drink they can come to the Matterhorn and nobody will mob them for autographs, or in many cases even know who they are". They probably get mistaken for members of Fat Freddy's Drop.

Apparently the name is ironic. Really? I thought it was because elderflowers are a diuretic.