Rugby is arguably one of New Zealand's most popular religions and it at least one church agrees, with Sunday services scrapped next month in favour of watching the All Blacks on their Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland. "A lot of people are going to watch the All Black games on Sunday morning, so we figured if we can't beat 'em, join 'em," said Pastor Russell Embling at the Greerton Bible Church in the North Island coastal town of Tauranga.
Embling said Thursday he would be placing a big screen television in his church for his congregation to watch the rugby and church goers will have the option of attending a Friday evening service instead.
The Grand Slam -- in which the All Blacks go head-to-head with Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland -- was last attempted in 1983 and last achieved by Graham Mourie's 1978 team.
While the four-Test tour of Britain and Ireland was a rare event for New Zealand, Embling admitted cancelling a service was pretty much unheard of among churches.
"We have never done anything like this before in terms of shifting our Sunday service to make way for anything -- let alone the rugby."
