The squad are in the middle of a five day stay in the Taupo Region of Waikato, where they are training at least twice daily, primarily at Owen Delany Park.
They will then move to Hamilton for their ‘Captain’s Run’ at Waikato Stadium on Saturday, in advance of their Pool D, second round, meeting with Samoa on Sunday.
But players and management took advantage of a rare day off during the intense schedule and were hosted by representatives of the New Zealand and Taupo tourist board.
A large majority of the squad spent the day at local beauty spot Huka (Foam) Falls, the highlight of which was a jet boat trip which took the squad spinning down a 25 kilometre stretch of the Waikato River – which is fed by volcanic springs and flanked by the Ariatia Rapids at one end and the 35 ft waterfall at the other.
The boat, powered by supercharched V6 Buick jet engines, travels at around 80 kilometres an hour, thrusts 800 litres of water a second, carries 14 passengers and performs 360 degree u-turns at will.
“We have had a great welcome in Taupo, from meeting the Maori elders two nights ago to all the staff at our training base at Owen Delany Park, everyone has gone out of their way to make sure we settle in,” said Ryan Jones, speaking to a local radio station who had spotted the Wales and Ospreys back row and his colleagues at Huka Falls.
“It was a tough day at the office against South Africa last week, but the boys have dusted themselves off and are continuing all the hard work this week in preparation for Samoa.
“But this is a beautiful country and it is moments like this one today as a player that you have to relish. We get the odd day off here and there during the tournament and it is important to fill that day. It’s all part of the Rugby World Cup experience and helps to keep you close as a group.
“This has been a great day out for all of us and the jet boat experience is amazing, but it will be straight back to the hard work of training bright and early tomorrow morning, just as it should be.”
The player group travelled on the squad team bus and stopped for a stroll alongside Lake Taupo itself on return from Huka falls.
The squad learnt the Maori name for the lake, Taupo-Nui-A-Tia, which means ‘the great cloak of Tia’, at their official Maori welcome to Taupo on Monday.
The largest lake in New Zealand, which is owned in its entirety by the local Maori tribe, is so called because it was discovered by Tia, the fighting chief of Arawa Canoe, the tribe which hosted the team on their arrival in the Taupo Region.
The area is also full of volcanic springs which the squad have used to aid recovery after training sessions and a Geothermal power station, built in 1958, which provides 15 per cent of the New Zealand nation’s total power.
