New Zealand welcomes the future stars of world rugby for #JWC2014
New Zealand opened its arms and officially welcomed the 11 visiting teams for IRB Junior World Championship 2014 at a special ceremony at Auckland’s Orakei Marae today.
With just three days to go until the first match in the Under 20 tournament gets underway, all 12 captains met for the first time before getting ready do battle during the premier age-grade competition. Click here for image of all captains at Orakei Marae.
The captains were joined by All Blacks legend and IRB Tournament Ambassador Jonah Lomu who passed on his words of wisdom to some of the players.
“For me it’s a great honour to be asked by the IRB to be an Ambassador for this Junior World Championship,” said Lomu.
“I know what I have to do in terms of being out here and supporting the tournament but also I’m really looking forward to watching it, because the future of world rugby is here on our doorstep.
“This is the time when you see rugby in its raw form and it’s great. These guys are here to impress, they’re still at the stage where they want to showcase their skills.
“These guys here could be the new household names of world rugby.”
#JWC2014 kicks off on Monday June 2 in Auckland, with the pool stages held at QBE Stadium, North Harbour and ECOLight Stadium, Pukekohe. The final will take place on Friday 20 June at Eden Park. Tickets are available from $5 for children and $10 for adults. Click here for more details.
New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Steve Tew said: “It’s a great privilege for us and we really appreciate the importance of this event. A lot of our own players from the past four or five years have gone on to be a fully-fledged All Black.
“All the countries that are here have got their future talent on show. We take the opportunity and responsibility incredibly seriously and we’re looking forward to putting on a great event.”
All JWC2014 captains will also be making a special appearance tomorrow night at Eden Park during the Blues v Hurricanes Investec Super Rugby match.
Note: Orakei Marae is a marae of Ngati Whatua o Orakei one of the mana whenua tribes of central Auckland.
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