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.

A Quarters Tale, you've got to go there to come back!

So the scene was set, Wales vs Ireland in the rugby world cup quarter finals, a game everyone would enjoy, my anticipation and anxiety were tittering on a see-saw but my excitement was undeniable.

‎72 hours of debauchery, 48hrs of Wellington Shenanigans, 24hrs on buses, 4 Quarter Finals, 1 Wales vs Ireland QF ticket.......great moments are born from great opportunity, that's what we have tomorrow night, that's what we've earned tomorrow night.


So I caught my bus a little tipsy for Mairangi bay and headed to Auckland for my naked bus to Wellington. One thing kiwis love is to pick a fight, at one stop a guy got off and confronted the driver to say he missed a stop and this wasn't one of the stops. The driver told him the bus number and all the stops which made him look stupid, but happily went on his way....any opportunity for confrontation or an argument. I met Lisa Mansell, an old camp friend from the original Jersey, by Britomart station and sculled a few cheeky beers over the quickest of catch up before I got my connection.

Due to the World Cup the roads were closed and I paniced looking for where the bus would now leave from, quickly found it and said my goodbyes to Lisa before setting off on a twelve hour bus adventure. I immediately regretted my decision, the bus was rammed out with lots of load children, I banged George Harrison 'Here comes the sun' on my ipod and sat back to watch the trip unfold. Fortunately the kids got off after a couple of stops and after some Heath ledger strength sleeping pills I managed to get a little sleep. It was funny as I was dozing off this kiwi behind me was hitting on this Eastern European chick by claiming people he was related to, what a knob, fishing without a rod, sacrament without earning! After a few hours, near somewhere like Taupo a large Irish fellow became my new seating companion and proceeded to piss me off to a new level of agitation. As I mentioned he was large, subsequently sweaty and kept nodding off and falling asleep on me. After a few times of nudging him it continued and this was one heavy guy, so I decided to go with the good old fashioned body check to bump him off, took him a good hour to get the idea. I rouse from dozing at about 5am and stayed awake till I got off the bus in Wellington at 7.30am.

I ate the pre made sandwiches I had prepared for the coach on the harbor and tried to figure out what I was going to get up to while most of Wellington slept. I ended up buying a coffee in maccas and reading for a few hours till the city started to stir. Courtenay place had been converted into a street long fanzone (booze free) but they provided entertainment and larges screens and as a result all the bars had extended zones into the street, a party was going to occur this weekend. I gave a seldom visit to the Te Papa museum again, nothing has changed on my four visits in three weeks, funny that. When it finally seemed to be hitting the right time I hit basement bar and got on their $10 jugs. The bar tender from surrey was having a rough day so poured some Jaeger shots and gave me one for free. While I was there these two older Irish guys came and ordered a drink, when the time to pay came the younger said 'no, no I'll pay for this, you pay for everything.' The other said 'that's very kind of you, now all you have to do is pay for the hookers.' I thought this was hilarious. I drank with a few Irish guys who like I always mentioned held up the great celtic spirit between the Welsh and the Irish. They dyed my hair green and we had a bit of banter before I headed to Hazels top drop off my bag. She had been a sweetheart and when I couldn't find accommodation said I could crash at hers for the weekend. After saying hi and dropping off my bag I devoured my bottle of cider in a Maccas bathroom as they don't take kindly to BYOB or street drinking and proceeded down to the docks to meet Dave Allen from Penarth who had sorted me out with the ticket. After a cheeky beer we headed off for more bars closer to the stadium and ended up on a boat. I am a little hazey on how, whether I boarded them and they let me stay or whether we were invited but they had a cash bar but loads of food for free. I had a  hot dog and steak sandwich, was a good feed in prep for the stadium.

However while i was dicking around i managed to stack it and do some ankle damage. Got to the stadium early and went over the tunnel to talk to the boys when they came out to train, yelled Powelly (Wales disgraced number 8) we love you, cause we do and lee Byrne (disgraced full back) told me to piss off. Saw Jamie Roberts and Sam Warburton coming out and said hi to Jamie and got a wave. I even shouted Joubert, Joubert at the referee and he came over and asked if he knew me, i panicked and said no. I also got to hi to Warren Gatland and said a brief thank you for everything he did in Hamilton, he and his wife sorted accommodation, food and drink for the traveling welsh fans as its Gatlands home town, don't think Martin Johnson will be doing that at the next world cup....or much at all. I was given a daffodil by a Welsh girl and threw it between George North and Leigh Halfpenny when they came off from training and i managed to coerce nervous smiles from them.

I found the guys from 'sam our Captain will take the cup home' song fame and we had a very spirited rendition in the concourse just before kick off.

So by now you all know Wales won 22-10, but it was a tense affair that Wales dominated scoring three tries to one and winning the physical battle. Wales have made the World cup Semi finals, and look good doing it. There is a strong belief in the team, the tactics seem to be right....bring on the French.

We celebrated out in Cuba Street and with the true spirit of the Irish they exchanged green for red, said we were the better team, shook our hands and wished us the best for the future.

During all this the england game was going on and they weren't even losing by this point and some England fan picked a fight with me as he claimed 'I don't like seeing the Welsh celebrate' what a complete turd which summed up England's entire world cup campaign and exit. I spent a while talking to these girls from Boston and then found out they were married, very modern, then their gay friend from wellington said I was 'pretty damn cute' a compliment indeed lol. I met Hazel at Electric Avenue, we drank and danced before crashing back at hers. TIHB.

I woke up with a pretty painful ankle, nothing broken just a really nasty bruise. I went to the farmers market on the harbor and then went for a walk. It was one of those beautiful sunny hot days in Wellington that make the wind and rain bearable.

I went to the Te Papa museum again, as the William Webb Ellis trophy was there. I am extremely hung over in the picture and was smiling but with a bright light in my face and the women I asked to take the picture taking 10-15seconds I was fed up by the time it was actually taken.

I went for a walk and got feb by heineken who were promoting their sponsorship of the world cup with a free bbq. I got a drink in Molly Malones and bumped into Collin and Dara from the opening weekend, we had a brief catch up and then they went looking for a place to stay the night. I sat outside in the sunshine, and i swear i saw Duffy walk passed, but I imagine it was Duffy wanna be. I went to basment bar and met the boys who spray painted my hair in fine form, drinking heavily before heading up to Taupo. They invited me along but with two more quarters to watch I decided not to. I hada  bit of time to myself and had a little mind trip, I really think supporting Wales is an endurance sport, such highs, such lows and so much passion.


Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Sam, Wales, and Saint David!'


I also realized rugby isn't a monogamous sport, the more you cheat and get away with it the more you are revered. I went for another walk and its amazing how much skin comes out when the sun shines. i went for dinner in Nandos and watched South africa get knocked of the World cup by Australia, although Quade 'the situation' Cooper had another rough game. it did however see an end to the long running joke of PDV and John Smit. I watched New Zealand book their Semi final in Courtenay place before catching Get him to the greek and getting a very good nights sleep.


I got up earlier than my alarm to catch my bus but was slightly worried as I had left my Ipod on all weekend so it was dead, I had fifty pages of my book to go, not exactly 12hrs of reading and managed to misplace my sleeping pills so no sleep. Twelve hours of thinking is a dangerous thing. I thought about the London Olympics and how they have conned the Uk and now will put on a lousy recession show with party poppers instead of fireworks and have the athletes run from there respective countries, maybe we'll win something then. I got back and after spending another hour and a half trying to get to the North shore in torrential rain I made it back to Nick and Joys where I was greeted by the joke:-
'An Englishman, a South American and a South African walk into a bar.....in the departure lounge'


Bring on the Semi Finals. The dream lives on!