Some of the attendees pose under the Marquee that greeted the Rugby supporters

Almost 200 members of the Jax Mens, UNF, Jacksonville Youth and the Jax Womens Rugby Teams, along with the Jacksonville South African Club joined the Axemen and Axe Maidens at the Regal Cinemas in Jacksonville for the opening night of the Invictus movie. The movie was given the "must see" vote by all who attended and most certainly one that can be enjoyed by everyone and not just Rugby fans.

Regal Cinemas made the night a huge success by providing a first class venue and service as well as supporting the event by reaching out to Warner Brothers for some great prizes that where added to the raffle items to help raise money for the USO. "Regal Cinemas was a first class organization to deal with from the very start", said Spinner Howland. "From the first call to get the group tickets to the on-site operation team that hosted our event for the night, it was all awesome. They even put us up on the Marquee to welcome us".

Each guest was welcomed by the Axemen and after collecting their tickets they received a movie poster that was again arranged by Regal Cinemas and also asked to sign one of the full sized Invictus movie banners that Regal had also provided courtesy of Warner Brothers. The signed banner was added to the main prize pack for the USO raffle.

The evening opened with a short speech from Herman Moller who is a well known local South African Rugby player and is also the coach for the Jacksonville Women Rugby team. Herman gave a great insight to the importance and how the events shown in the movie effected and shaped the nation of South Africa and the sport of Rugby in a way that only someone who lived it could. His words made those in the crowd understand just how incredible it was to experience the effect that sport can have on people of all races, nationalities and beliefs. This was something that was echoed by the fact that people from no fewer than six countries sat in the same room to watch a movie and the sport of Rugby was the common denominator. The fact that it happened in the USA where Rugby is barely a niche sport made it even more incredible.

After the movie three lucky people who had purchased raffle tickets won a variety of prizes before the group headed to Time Out Sports Grill to continue the evening over a few bottles of Barons Black Wattle and Budweiser beers.

The event raffle raised $160 for the USO and also money for the local Rugby teams as well raising the awareness of the sport in the Jacksonville area.

The Axemen would like to say a sincere thanks to everyone involved and especially to Herman Moller and Regal Cinemas.