New Zealand rugby broke new ground this week when their Antarctic research team triumphed over their American counterparts in a game played on a pitch consisting of ancient sea-ice.

The weekly Antarctic Sun, published on Tuesday at the US McMurdo Sound base in Antarctica, ruefully notes that New Zealand's Scott Base defeated the US McMurdo Base 9-3 in a game played on a lively field of snow atop three metres of ancient sea-ice.

An account of the match, plainly written by an American, notes that New Zealand scored three "tries" to the American one. That would have made the score 15-5, at least.

The Sun says McMurdo safety consultant Rick Morlock coached the Americans, saying the game was an improvement on last years 21-3 whitewash.

"It was very competitive," he said. "It wasn't a blowout by any means."

Chet Riley, base services manager at Scott Base, offered a similar assessment.

"It was a pretty close match because the snow's a great leveler," he said.

The worst injury was suffered by Jennifer Wilson for the Americans who got a severely bruised eye after wrestling the ball away from a Kiwi and passing it to a teammate.

"It was the one play I could be proud of," said Wilson, who was playing her first rugby game.

Only five members of the McMurdo team had played rugby before, with the remainder of the 14 men and three women learning the rules during eight practices before the game, Morlock said.

"I was trying to convert football players to rugby players," he said, adding the Kiwis "grow up playing rugby like we play football or baseball."

The New Zealanders did not practice, Riley said.

"We named the team at 3 o clock and then we played at half past three." - Sapa-AFP