Hayden Meikle and Steve Hepburn dig out a few tidbits from the Rugby World Cup.
Dunedin already has the best stadium involved in the Rugby World Cup.
We can also report the Otago Stadium media centre has a touch of class un-matched by any other venue in New Zealand.
Reporters and photographers were greeted before last weekend's England-Argentina game by the closest thing Otago has to royalty.
Dame Lois Muir is one of the hundreds of volunteers helping the tournament run smoothly.
• Chilly reception
England made a quick getaway from Otago Stadium on Saturday night in search of some hot water, the Daily Mail reported.
"There was a problem with the showers in the changing rooms at the newly-built ground and they were only belting out cold water.
"Luckily the team hotel is only a five-minute coach journey into the town centre and the hot water there flows like . . . water."
• What's in a name?
We've had Carisbrook To'omalatai, but this rugby name is going to take some beating.
Wales Manu Samoa 9-34 Moamoa Gale is a young Samoan man who studies science at the island nation's university.
His spectacular title comes from Samoa's victory over the touring Welshmen in 1994, the BBC reports.
Wales, as he is known, was born during the game. His grandmother, on hearing the joyous news, instructed her son to give the baby his rugby-themed name.
• Samoans sizzle . . .
Great effort by the Samoans to score a try after just 39 seconds against Namibia in Rotorua on Wednesday.
But it was downright pedestrian compared to Elton Flatley's effort for the Wallabies against Romania in Brisbane eight years ago.
Flatley, playing at second five, scored after 18 seconds in Australia's 90-8 victory. It remains the fastest try scored at a Rugby World Cup.
• . . . but JL was quicker
One of the fastest tries - possibly THE fastest - in all test rugby was scored by one of Otago's favourite sons, John Leslie.
The midfield back scored after just nine seconds in Scotland's 33-20 win over Wales at Murrayfield in 1999.
(Look on YouTube for "fastest rugby try john leslie" and you can see for yourself.)
Scotland switched the kick-off, which was taken by former All Black fullback Shane Howarth, but Leslie ripped it out of his arms and sprinted 30m to the line.
"We'd practised it four or five times," Leslie recalled this week.
"Duncan Hodge took the kick and it came down in the perfect spot. I went for it, caught it and just headed straight to the line."
The Scots went on to win the Five Nations, after starting as 100-1 outsiders, and Leslie was named player of the tournament, just months after being part of Otago's famous NPC victory.
But the gods of rugby can be cruel.
Leslie was on his way to the tryline in Scotland's opening World Cup game later in 1999 when he suffered a severe ankle injury.
• Uncle Tony
He has an exotic surname and English prop Alex Corbisiero has a life story to match.
Corbisiero was born in New York, to an English mother and an American father. The family moved to London when he was a child.
The London Irish front-rower's Italian grandfather went to New York in the 1950s to run a restaurant, and his uncle Tony still manages the family business, Riccardo's, in Queens. Tony Corbisiero was a swimming champion, breaking two American records.
• Vili confusing
Five players in the Georgian team that played Scotland in Invercargill on Wednesday night had surnames ending in "vili".
Five more ended in "dze".
• Trench warfare
Rugby is a game that, at its best, can not be matched.
But Scotland against Georgia on Wednesday night in Invercargill was not one of those games.
Statistics received after the match showed why. Total lineouts: 31.
Handling errors: 16. Total line breaks in the match: one.
• Trains, buses and automobiles
The problem with Eden Park?
It has no parking, is in a residential area, and is nowhere near a main route.
Then throw in trains which sound like they used to cart people to gulags; congested, tight roads; and a waterfront which had no extra capacity. It adds up to the perfect disaster.
People are wondering who got the better deal: $190 million on a poorly located and messy Eden Park, or a tad more for the new stadium in Dunedin?
