The people of Dunedin are a bit of a worry when it comes to rugby. How else could you explain the huddled masses who gathered for more than a century in the often frosty outer reaches of the city's Carisbrook stadium, known to the world as the House of Pain, and for very good reason, too.
It was a venue where the All Blacks were virtually unbeatable (38 tests, 32 wins), and it gave a decent old leg-up to the local Highlanders as they plied their trade in the Super 15s series.
More often than not it was packed to the rafters, no matter what the conditions were and often they were terrible, something armchair fans across the globe viewed with morbid fascination and no little amount of respect for those sat in the stands under layer upon layer of clothing.
'It's like an old gentleman of New Zealand rugby, isn't it?' was All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith's appraisal of the stadium.
Well, the old bloke has finally been retired and the people in Dunedin are not really sure how they feel about his replacement, either.
Their passion has been turned from matters on-pitch to off. First, they tried to stop construction of Dunedin's new venue, but the Stop the Stadium's court challenge was thrown out. And in the local bars and cafes of this city, passions are quickly brought to the boil if the topic is even mentioned.
David Davies knew exactly what he was wading in to when he left the United Kingdom in 2009 to take the reins of what has now been christened Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium and what is one of the jewels in the crown that is New Zealand's World Cup.
