Thats rugby....thats all it is.

So I had to seduce myself to sleep with my friend Mr Alcohol as I honestly think the anticipation would keep me awake all night. I had a long lie in, in preparation for a late night, kick off being at 9pm. I spent the morning bantering with friends around the world whilst drinking plenty of tea. When asked what my plans were I replied 'drink tea until a time where it becomes redundunt and move onto something stronger'.
I had a hearty lunch that turned to disaster, I had a bowl of chili and a pizza however I was particularly tired when I went down and got the wrong change so ended up paying $20 for some shitty $3 pizza, and the receipt and balance worked out so no refund. Ah well, I was well fed. Around 3.30pm I headed to Auckland city, at the bus stop there were loads of Kiwis in Wales replica shirts or wearing daffodils, a very moving sign of support from the host nation. I got into town and the train out to Remeura to be picked up by mugsy. We picked up his daughter Tanyka, from the airport, fresh from her 21st and finishing Uni in Dunedin! It was quite hilarious watching Mugsys road rage as we were running a little late and Mugsdy lost it with a Learner in the fast lane, I had to bite my lip to stop from shrieking with laughter. We made it over to Kingsland for a pre match drink and I found out Mugsy and his wife Tena had given up their tickets so I could go, I was dumbstruck by their generosity but was preparing not to accept this offer when Dave said he had bought them tickets as a surprise thank you for letting him stay with them.

I ended up sitting with Tanyka behind the posts which turned out to be pretty reasonable seats. The only problem was no cover and we had a huge downpour just before kick off soaking us to the bone. 

The game was obviously marred by the dubious sending off of Sam Warburton our Captain, and will forever go down as one of those what could have been moments. With fourteen men Wales rallied and played out of their skins but missed vital kicks and had a terrible time at the line out, France had no response and played a boring negative kicking game. Unfortunately the referee didn't see the number of penalty infringements in the build up to the end of the game and we just didn't have it in us to cross the whitewash again. We dropped out of the World Cup 9-8. I feel bad for players like Shane Williams who was truly gutted and will  now never get another chance. I guess that's rugby, that's all it is.


Leaving the stadium I managed to get on the new Zealand Herald fan section, shouting 'they didn't deserve it!' and I still maintain they didn't. It's approximately 1 min 6 secs in(below).


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503158&gal_cid=1503158&gallery_id=122183



After the match we went back to Clares, an Irish bar to drown our sorrows and I met a nice kiwi family from Irish descent and had a few beers with them and exchanged numbers with one of them with the promise of a tour of Auckland. We had an interesting trip back to mugsys via Wendys where Dave got out of the car in the drive through and asked stupid questions to the bemused late shift staff. We got back and I watched the end of 'Diamonds are Forever, and feeling uncomfortably numb I went to sleep and subsequently dreamt of Jill St.John the Bond girl from that film.

I woke feeling particularly optimistic, I had taken stock and the sun still rose and the birds still sung, not the end of the world but still felt as if our opportunity had been taken from us. Although I felt a weight has been lifted and the anticipation and anxiety no longer keeping me on edge I was able to sleep comfortably for the first time in weeks. I made my way back to the North Shore and settled in for a quiet night watching the All Blacks secure a final spot over the Aussies.