Came... Soared... Conquered (just)

This past Saturday the BIG DAY finally arrived, and Lauriel and I attended our first All Blacks game together.  As a couple.  We actually both attended the same game a few years ago - sitting in the same stand, but of course neither of us had any idea of what was to come!

Mister Guildford & Mister McCaw
... warming up, TOGETHER

It was cold.  So bloody cold.  But I didn't really feel the cold, as such - I was much too excited to even notice the weather, although the ice on the seats was very hard to ignore (and no - I'm not exaggerating!)...  We got there in time to watch the men warming up - even if they were down the opposite end of the field from us...  We played a game of 'guess that All Black', for the most part... however there were two players who were VERY obvious to us - and naturally those players were Mr Guildford and Mr McCaw.  We both did little squeeeeee's of joy when they came out, and I think it's fair to say our focus was very much on the two of them, for the entirety of the warm up session.  Especially when they were running together.  It was like it was meant to be.

When it came time for the national anthems, I sang along to both - the Irish anthem because I think it's the coolest anthem out there (only the Irish would have a national anthem, that sounds like a pub song!), and the New Zealand anthem because... well, I'm a Kiwi, and I was surrounded by my fellow Kiwi's... so singing along seemed the appropriate thing to do.  And really, you couldn't have stopped me from singing along.  Nick Afoa sang the NZ anthem, and did a fantastic job.  A few tears did come to the eyes as the anthem finished, and an enormous roar erupted from the stadium - but the tears were soon a thing of the past, as the men All in Black took their positions on the field, to perform the haka...  An amazing sight, and amazing sound to behold.

Ireland taking a kick at goal..

After the haka, of course it was time for kick off - and from the beginning you could tell the game was going to consist of penalties, and maybe a try or two - the type of game that isn't exciting to watch and contains a lot of 'stop-start', but is usually very close - which in turn DOES create some excitement.  The boys didn't get off to a great start and were 10-0 down at one point..  After that they clawed their way back into it...  As I'd presumed, the points were scored mostly by the boots of the goal kickers - and when it was 19-19 with a few minutes to go, it was obvious that the game could be won or lost - by either team, by a drop kick that actually hit the mark.

LUCKILY this is precisely what Mr Daniel Carter did - you could hear all the All Blacks supporters breathe a huge sigh of relief, although being bluntly honest, the Irish deserved the win - of the two teams on the field, they played the hardest... in my opinion.  That said.  I'm bloody glad the AB's won.  New Zealand is not a fun place to be after an All Blacks loss, particularly when it is to a [supposedly] lesser-team.  Ireland certainly gave them a run for their money, and although I'm an AB's supporter through & through, I was proud of the men in green!

Steaming man pile

One of the most fascinating aspects of the game for me, was the cold temperature - and all the steam it created...  The game was FULL of what I referred to as 'steaming man piles' - and I would love to know how much of the cold the players actually felt... whether they noticed it as much as the crowd, or if they didn't notice it so much because they were hot from running around.  I loved when there was a scrum or a ruck - and all you could see was a big billowing cloud of steam coming from the players, which would stay even when the players were on their way to the other side of the field.  Fascinating really....

The biggest down side to the game was about 8 minutes from the end, when Izzy got yellow carded for a supposed aerial shoulder charge.  You could see there was absolutely NOTHING malicious in it, and it was plain to see that all that had happened was Izzy jumped when the dude kicked the ball - Izzy crashed into the guy, the guy then fell to the ground and did a big Hollywood.  NEK MINNIT Izzy is being sent to the rugby equivalent of the naughty chair, and the All Blacks are down to 14 players.  Not that it made much difference.  Another down side was Ali Williams and his fondness for fisty cuffs...  Richie gave him a good telling off for that.  And damn straight too!

A natural upside to the game, was the fact that Zaccy played the full 80 minutes.  AND looked fierce doing the haka.

But the biggggggest upside to the game, is quite simply that I was there with the love of my life, and we were able to experience it together.

some women would bitch about
being taken to the rugby, on a date
... but not us! 
best. date. night. ever.