The Star: October 26, 2023

The Star Thursday October 26 2023
16
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Friends make pact to go to every
• By Tiffany Salmond
THREE HIGH school friends
from Christchurch made a pact
to go to every Rugby World Cup
together.
Twelve years later, they have
made it to their fourth.
Andy Peat and Adam John
have made appearances at the
World Cup in New Zealand 2011,
England 2015, Japan 2019 and
France 2023.
Kim Boustridge completed a
trio of tournaments, with the
minor exception of England.
Before the February 22, 2011
earthquake struck, Christchurch
was to host seven World Cup
matches that year.
But unfortunately the Garden
City was stripped of its hosting
duties as the damage to
infrastructure – including AMI
Stadium – was too severe.
“It was tough because the city
had been through a lot. Not only
with that earthquake but the
previous ones,” Peat said.
The group of three decided to
scrape together the money they
had and fly to Wellington where
some of the games had been
relocated.
It was in Wellington where
they came up with the idea.
“It was an awesome experience,”
Peat said.
“Obviously we love rugby and
FOURTH WORLD CUP: Kim Boustridge (left), Andy Peat and Adam John at the 2023
Rugby World Cup ahead of the Ireland v All Blacks quarter final.
PHOTO: RNZ
the All Blacks and it would have
been such a shame if we didn’t
make that trip and allowed the
earthquake to stop us from going.
“We were like, let’s not miss
this again.
“We’ll make a vow, which is
‘every World Cup until we die’.”
Travelling overseas for a World
Cup does not come cheap, but
the friends have a unique strategy
to ensure money is never the
reason their pact fell through.
Each weekend, the trio take
turns spending $100 each on
sports bets and deposit the winnings
into a fund for the upcoming
World Cup.
“It actually became this amazing
way of keeping in touch,”
Peat said.
“As you get older you naturally
lose touch, and that’s okay, but
this ‘vow’ and the $100 each
week has really kept us in touch
considering we all live in different
parts of the world now.”
They began saving for France
two years ago and have contributed
to their fund every weekend
since.
“We’ve notched up about
$30,000, so the trip is essentially
paid for. The next World Cup,
which is in Australia, the goal
‘I went to the airport but I
had some passport issues.
You can’t make this up
but a dog had eaten my
passport’ – Andy Peat
is to get to about $75,000,” Peat
said.
Adam John said his favourite
memory so far was from the
Ireland v All Blacks quarter-final
on October 14.
“When Sam ‘Greatlock’ won
the turnover and the three of us
launched into celebratory jumping
hugging chaos surrounded
by an Irish sea of dismay. The
Irish fans were super gracious
and good fun throughout
though,” John said.
Sometimes in life, the best
times are when things do not
go to plan. This was all too true
for Peat and the crew when they
planned to fly home after the
2015 semi-final when the All
Blacks beat South Africa.
“I went to the airport but I had
some passport issues. You can’t
make this up but a dog had eaten
my passport,” Peat said.
Although he had a temporary
passport, it was not sufficient for
the American airline to allow
him to board the plane.
“That was my sort of ‘higher
power’ moment where I thought,
well I better stay for the final.”
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