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Cup exhibition a great success

Friday 13 January 2012, 1:27PM

By New Zealand Rugby Museum

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PALMERSTON NORTH

THE cup has runneth over!

A special exhibition featuring the coveted Webb Ellis Cup ended at the New Zealand Rugby Museum on Thursday, January 12, after being viewed by hundreds of international, national and local visitors.

The International Rugby Board’s symbol of World Cup supremacy went on display just before Christmas, along with the IRB’s Women’s Rugby World Cup and Junior World Championship Trophy and the HSBC Sevens World Series Trophy.

The cups were at the museum during a break in The Great Rugby Road Trip, a New Zealand Rugby Union organised “thank you, New Zealand” national tour, which resumes early next month and continues until April.

NZRM Director Stephen Berg said people had been greatly enthused at the presence of the Webb Ellis Cup, with many having their photographs taken in front of the display cabinet.

“It shows how the cup has really gotten into New Zealand’s psyche and that people are proud of it and want to be photographed alongside it,” he said. “It means so much to them.”

Mr Berg said the most oft-asked question was whether the cup on display was the “real one” or a replica.

“My answer was that it was the cup hoisted by All Black captain Richie McCaw and therefore the real one. It was made in 1906, with the 1986 version sitting in a vault in Dublin as a spare.”

Mr Berg said there were a number of comments on its bright, golden colour, and how it stood out against the normal silver mounted rugby trophies.

“It was a special opportunity to have the four cups on display together and there have been plenty of inquiries as to whether the Webb Ellis Cup will come back. We certainly hope so,” he said.

The Great Rugby Road Trip heads to Kaitaia on February 7 before making its way down the country and finishing in Oamaru on April 4.