Irish Rugby Team Tours Christchurch For the First Time Following Earthquake
The Irish rugby team has arrived in Christchurch for the second leg of their New Zealand tour.
The team face the All Blacks on Saturday for the first Test match held in the city since the devastating earthquake struck in February 2011.
The game will surely be an emotional one for the hosts, who are playing their first series of games since winning the World Cup against Ireland. On Wednesday, the Irish team took a tour of the area.
The image above is from back row forward and Kildare man Jamie Heaslip and shows his first view of the city.
And Clontarf prop Cian Healy was also tweeting from the plane, before takeoff from Auckland:
Former European Player of the Year and Leinster star Sean O’Brien was shocked to see the damage still visible in the city’s red zone:
RTE Radio’s rugby commentator Michael Corcoran also travelled to the city ahead of the big game and posted moving photos from some of the areas worst affected:
@MichaelC_RTE
Michael Corcoran I was here in Christchurch in 2005 for Lions Tour, the area around where I stayed no longer exists as a working part of the City #rterugby
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The NZ Herald reports the Irish rugby team donated $6000 to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Fund when they were in the country for the Rugby World Cup last year.
Are you Irish and in New Zealand? Let us know what Irish people have been up to in Christchurch in the comments below.
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