Dunedin, New Zealand – Stripping a defence took on a whole new meaning as an enthusiastic crowd gathered to watch the 'Nude Blacks' here on Saturday ahead of the World Cup clash between Argentina and England.
The Nude Blacks, a side made up of amateur players from New Zealand, do, as their name suggests, play with no clothes on.
“Our first game was in 2002 in the middle of a dunes on a beach. We were frozen. It started as a joke as part of a backpackers' festival,” Ralph Davies, founder of the Nude Blacks, told AFP on Saturday.
“Here students are known to run across the streets naked in winter, so we decided to go further by playing rugby in the nude and it became more popular with every passing year.”
Hundreds of spectators, of all ages and both sexes, gathered in Dunedin's Kettle Park on Saturday to watch the Nude Blacks play their second game of the season following a win against a team from Fiji, who had taken the field in traditional grass skirts.
Saturday's opponents in a sevens match were the Spanish Conquistadors, an all female side made up of six women from Barcelona bolstered by a friend from Catalonia and a New Zealander with bunches in her hair.
This 'battle of the sexes' came about after the Conquistadors won a place to take part in a 'rugby on ice' tournament in New Zealand after posting a video of themselves playing on a beach in Barcelona.
And that all led to an invitation from the 'Nude Blacks'.
Saturday's match started with the home team performing a traditional haka, arguably more scary than anything New Zealand and Tonga managed in their pre-match displays ahead of Friday's opening game of the World Cup, which their opponents responded to by cooling themselves with traditional Spanish fans.
The Conquistadors then performed a dance of their own and kicked off in customary shirts and shorts.
However, for each try they scored they removed an item of clothing, thereby pioneering the concept of 'strip rugby'.
Although the ladies put in several fearsome tackles and were clearly up for a competitive game, a certain amount of lenient refereeing helped them win 25-20, with two of their players down to their underwear by full-time.
Asked if they had let the Conquistadors score a few tries, Brad Henderson, a 23-year-old student playing for the 'Nude Blacks', replied: “Of course.
“It was hard playing against the girls because we couldn't play at 100 percent.”
However, the Conquistadors' Vanessa Pleguezuelos, 31, said: “We thought they would be more gentle with us but they only slowed down when they realised we might score a try.
“It was the first time we played against a team of men and, moreover, one that was completely nude.”
She added: “It could have been a distraction but we played the match like any other.”
The 'Nude Blacks' have three more matches before the end of the World Cup in which to recover from this defeat. – Sapa-AFP