Rugby World Cup: Friends make a pact after Christchurch earthquake

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 an appearance at the World Cup in New Zealand 2011, England 2015, Japan 2019 and France 2023. Kim Boustridge completed the trio for the tournaments, with the minor exception of England.

Prior to the 2011 earthquake, Christchurch was due to host seven World Cup matches. But unfortunately for rugby hopefuls, the Garden City was stripped of its hosting duties as damage to the city’s 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 a few of the games had been relocated.

It was in Wellington where they came up with the idea.

“It was an awesome experience. Obviously we love rugby and 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,” Peat said.

“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 that money was 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 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 last weekend.

“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.”

They stayed in London and thankfully managed to grab a couple of tickets.

“I ended up shouting an Australian friend of mine to the game who I’d met on Sail Croatia three weeks earlier. It was great because we ended up beating Australia.”

“That’s probably my best memory,” Peat said.

Making a lifelong pact was a hefty commitment, but Kim Boustridge said having something to look forward to every four years kept them motivated to navigate the forward-planning needed.

“We’re already talking about the next World Cup in Australia and the likelihood that we will need to accommodate partners.

“It was supposed to happen this World Cup but unfortunately, none of the boys landed that big fish,” Boustridge said.

Peat was also welcoming the potential of a different dynamic in the years to come.

“Everyone always says ‘is it a lads trip?’, and the answer is not really.

“We’re all single but the idea is if we end up with families, that we bring them on the journey and hopefully the kids would carry it on as well.”

After next week’s final, all three fly home and go their separate ways. But it will not be long until they begin planning for Australia 2027, where they were hopeful there will be a few plus ones in tow.