Fist-pumping time for Eskdale School new entrant Joe Insull as he meets the Broncos during their visit to the school. The Broncos are in town for Saturday's rugby league match against the Warriors. Photo / John Cowpland - Alphapix
Fist-pumping time for Eskdale School new entrant Joe Insull as he meets the Broncos during their visit to the school. The Broncos are in town for Saturday's rugby league match against the Warriors. Photo / John Cowpland - Alphapix
The Brisbane Broncos have completed a dramatic arrival and introduction to Hawke’s Bay – arriving at 1am and still making a 9am appointment with the pupils at cyclone-ravaged Eskdale School north of Napier.
While the Broncos were on the way to Napier for an NRL match against the New Zealand Warriors at McLean Park - they were delayed in Auckland and landed at Hawke’s Bay Airport more than four hours late - the death was announced of singer Tina Turner, who had a special place in the hearts of the Queensland club.
In 1998 the Broncos became the first outsiders in the competition, which had a 90-year history as the Sydney premiership, the NSWRL, or such commercial handles as the Winfield Cup.
Their ascendancy paralleled that of the NRL, and its elevation in the psyche of New Zealand sports and entertainment, in the era of Tina Turner’s Simply the Best, the overwhelmingly successful NRL commercial campaign that led to her appearance at the 1993 grand final, when the Broncos won as defending champions and, famously, were pictured with Tina Turner immediately afterwards.
That alone may have inspired some emotion as the team finally arrived in Hawke’s Bay, when as day broke there was emotion as the team and management were up and schooled on Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated the Esk Valley, and many other areas, 101 days earlier.
The Broncos and the pupils at Eskdale School. Photo / John Cowpland - Alphapix
Some Broncos had memories of either personal connection to or club aftermath-involvement with the Lockyer Valley flooding of January 10, 2011, which killed 21 around Grantham, reportedly hit by an 8-metre wall of water just 80km from Brisbane.
It was a time of added emotion for Raglan-born Broncos second-rower Jordan Riki, amid the powhiri and haka at the school, one of the oldest schools in New Zealand and which was closed for almost all of Term 1 because of the ravages of the cyclone. By the end of the near two-hour visit the school was already forming a possible permanent relationship with the visitors.
Among the 50 supporters on the team club’s chartered aircraft were “super-fans” Donna and Michael Frechtner - Donna a staff member at St Finbarr’s Primary School, which neighbours Broncos HQ in Ashgrove, and who was keen to develop some sort of sister-school connection.
Eskdale principal Tristan Cheer, who like the rest of the school community endured the temporary basing of the school at Petane Domain and Westshore School while cyclone-created septic tank-system problems were addressed at the school, was as excited as the pupils.
“The Broncos were outstanding and gave our students a real lift,” he said, after the latest uplifting experience for the pupils, which included a mid-March visit by members of Super Rugby’s Chiefs, including All Blacks Brad Weber and Brodie Retallick.
“They [the Broncos] mixed and mingled with the kids, signed autographs, answered questions and even took part in the house competition,” he said. “What an awesome way to start the day.”
A Broncos spokesperson said most of the players had had barely 3-4 hours’ sleep yet some were up an hour early, appreciating “the kids” had endured much worse.
On the latest of a series of fine days expected to continue into Saturday’s match, the team were not letting missing a few zeds spoil a good day, and instead of heading back to their East Pier lodgings advanced to the Cape Kidnappers golf course for a bit of recreation, leaving attention to focus on the arrival of the Warriors, expected from Auckland at 4.15pm today.
The Warriors, with an advance party of non-match personnel, also have school visits, a public event tonight at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park, Hastings, and both teams have training sessions at McLean Park tomorrow - the Warriors in the morning, the Broncos in the afternoon.
The match, starting at 7.30pm on Saturday is sold out, with a crowd of over 15,000, some of whom will be in for a particularly special treat.
The Broncos confirmed that the match jerseys – the “away” strip but carrying a message on the back of thanks to Hawke’s Bay and those who have helped in cyclone rescue and recovery will be given away to the crowd afterwards.
