Poneke Diary Week 5

Every year, Michigan Rugby sends a few select players to travel to Wellington, New Zealand for the summer and have the opportunity to learn and play with the local club, Poneke FC. Kiyan Jacobs, Noah Alvarez, Regan Plank, and Sam Glusker are currently there and documenting their experiences. This entry concerns June 12th through June 19th. 

Poneke 2025, Week 5: Habits and Happenings

This week in Wellington was relatively uneventful and continued the shift from feeling like we’re on vacation to just living in the city. Last Thursday, Regan and I worked on what would be our last day at the construction site. We walked down Courtenay Place back to our apartment after work, reflecting on the experiences we had had at the site. We had another quick turnaround before practice, where fields were closed again due to mud and preparation for Saturday’s home gameday. We sat in the clubrooms, analyzing film of the week prior, followed by a quick team gym session. While only Regan was originally set to play for the Colts again this week, I got a call from one of the coaches on Friday morning that one of the starting locks on the team had to pull out of the game for the weekend, and I would be taking his spot. Taken aback, I was nervous but eager to make my debut as a starter for the team. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and the four of us had a nice dinner out at a local pub. 

Regan and I woke up on Saturday morning and headed to the clubhouse. We warmed up for the big game in the cold, windy Wellington weather, and were cheered out to the field as an assortment of Poneke club members chanted us through a tunnel. Fired up, we dominated the whole game, putting up a dominant 45-0 victory. Thrilled with our performance, we all hung out in the clubhouse and chatted with each other while watching the Prems game. After the game, the four of us headed home and got ready to have some of our teammates over to our humble abode to hang out and watch rugby. Overall, it was a very successful day, both athletically and socially.

On Sunday, we got some active recovery, heading to the Butterfly Creek trail on the other side of the bay. We ventured to the other side of the valley and took in scenery that we hadn’t seen before. The next day, we headed up to Central Park, where we got a great view of downtown Wellington and had some great field space to pass around a rugby ball. Practice on Tuesday brought contact, conditioning, and passing drills as we prepped for a big game on Saturday. On Wednesday, Noah, Sam, and I headed to Ruffnuts practice to get some extra training in and prepare ourselves further to play on Saturday. Afterwards, we headed back to our apartment to watch the second game of State of Origin, a classic Rugby League series which is a massive deal in Australia and in New Zealand. Thursday was pretty quiet. It had rained heavily all morning, so we were surprised to find that the practice fields were open. We spent most of practice working on setpieces and forward picks off of the ruck, simulating phases in the mud. 

As we reach the area around the halfway point of our trip, it’s nice to feel like residents in New Zealand as opposed to tourists. In these coming weeks, I look forward to keeping this up, while continuing to explore the city and country as a whole, on a deeper level.