The number who booked for this year's 'Big Match' was 120 - amost half being Club Intermeders, the remainder other youngsters and parents. We met at Tawa Station and caught the 6.08pm train in to the Westpac Stadium for a 7.35pm kickoff. This was the last match of what hadn't been an especially good season for the Hurricanes. They had sunk to second-to-last on the Super 12 table and were up against the second-placed Crusaders. The odds were on the visitors chalking up a comfortable win. However, as the comment in the sports section of that day's newspaper read: "... the Hurricanes could play the sort of rugby tonight that their fans dream of." And they did.

With little more than a quarter of the game gone the Hurricanes were ahead 17-3. Adding one more try to the two they'd already scored, they went into halftime leading 22-8. For the Crusaders to have a chance of clawing their way back into the match, they needed to score first in the second half. They didn't. The home team increased their lead even further with a 'bonus point try' early on. With 16 minutes left in the match, a home win looked secure with the score at 37-15. It ended 37-20, a pleasing result for most of the 34,500 crowd and our Club Intermed party. It was the first time - of the three matches to which Club Intermed has been, starting in 2002 - that we've seen the Hurricanes win.

P.S. Crusaders' fans - and there were quite a number in the crowd - were able to console themselves with the fact that this match wasn't really of great consequence for them. Their team had already qualified for the semifinals.