Alaskan Rugby Grounds Impress Mangatainoka Team

Hamish Clentworth, the chairman of the visiting Mangatainoka Barbarians Rugby Club of New Zealand, was almost at a loss for words when he came upon the Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds.

Overlooking Anchorage is a rugby field like no other. Carved out of the hillside, it is unexpected and picturesque.

Mangatainoka is one of the world’s premier over-35 club teams. Many of its members have played for the All Blacks. The team was in Alaska recently for a match against the Alaska Oosiks, performing a “spectacular” haka.

“We’ve decided we have to make a few words in the dictionary redundant,” Clentworth said of the grounds. “Wow, amazing, fabulous. The scenery, the people, everything has just been fantastic for us.”

Original article by Loren Holmes, Alaska Dispatch News, July 21, 2017.

Photo by Loren Holmes.