Honeymooners fly flag in provincial heartland

Veronica and Peter Beard, of Bedford, England, favour the Welsh members of the Lions squad. Picture / Mark Mitchell

LIONS FAN

Name: Honeymooners Peter and Veronica Beard.
From: Bedford, England.
Favourite team: Bedford Blues
Favourite player: Peter: Stephen Jones, my father's Welsh.
Veronica: Shane Williams. The only Englishman I'd support is Will Greenwood. I don't think Jonny Wilkinson should be here. He was picked because he's a name, he hasn't earned his place, he hasn't played all season. He puts bums on seats.
Hoping to see: Our Bedford flag being seen on the telly back home.

Q: How did you get your tickets
A: We planned this for two years. We heard the tickets hadn't all been sold, so we went in the ballot on the internet. We have tickets to all the provincial matches.

Q: Do you think you paid too much
A: We're hoping to get tickets for the tests, but we want to pay face value. We saw one man (an Englishman) with a wad of tickets for the Auckland test, he was selling them for 250 ($640) each.
Veronica: If I'd seen a policeman ...
Peter: I want the kids to benefit from the tickets.

Q: What will you do after the game.
A: We're on the ferry to Picton at 3 o'clock.

Score: Peter: Lions 35, Wellington 23.
Veronica: Everyone says Clive's got something hidden. Peter: I hope so.