The company car, a lamb and mint pie and a bottle of L&P (world famous in New Zealand). I was ready for a road trip. For a seasoned Kiwi sports writer in the city of Gisborne, my task would have been the short straw, the long shift. For an Irish rugby fanatic and junior reporter, it turned into something else... a journey into the mystic heart of Māori culture. A day that still floats into my wandering mind some four years later. The start of my love affair with Aotearoa. My task was to report on a rugby match between Ngāti Porou East Coast and Thames Valley. Today, Ngāti Porou rugby is one of the most preserved symbols of Māori mana (a supernatural force) in New Zealand. Whakarua Park is right in the middle of the
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