All things rugby ...

So I went to the first Super 14 rugby game for the 2010 season. It was at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland and the Blues were playing the Hurricances. I was so excited cos it has been YEARS since I've been to a rugby game at home. Traffic was crazy getting there cos it was Friday night and getting over that Harbour bridge (which is the one I bungeed, off see previous post) can be a nightmare especially in peak hour traffic. Everyone was getting anxious with the traffic but I on the other hand was just loving the idea of going to the rugby. I was feeling all nostalgic thinking about growing up in NZ and how rugby is definitely part of who I am. We got our tickets for free through some promo and we were in the 6th row from the field. I loved seeing kiwis getting all excited going to the game, the boys outside the park drinking out of there van, kids waving flags, face painting, the ladies wanting to get into the stadium to check out the players and a mince pie with a bottle of L&P. It was a beautiful summers evening with no breeze yet it was in the evening enough so that it wasn't too hot.

Before the game started they had a helicopter land on the field it was kinda exciting. It was the army and they dropped off "Michael Jones". He has and always will be my favourite rugby player so I was extremely excited for that moment. That in itself was worth going to the game. They introduced him and of course I got up with a hiss and roar. People around me were like "Who is that". All I can say is "rookies".

Here are the Blues warming up ready to get going and they had a cracker first 20 mins. They broke the Hurricanes back line a couple of times, one leading to a try and it was pretty exciting.

I managed to snap a pic of Joe Rockococko hanging out on the wing. He had a quiet game but made one impressive run that nearly led to a try but the Blues stuffed it up right before their try line. Unfortunately the Blues had a decent lead at one point and then got complacent and they made several basic handling errors. It was really frustrating at times to watch.

There was a lineout right in front of us so I managed to snap another pic and this is where the blues were on attack and they never capitalised on it so they lost all that field advantage and came up empty handed.

Blues scrum right by their try line thanks to a great breakthrough however once again they messed up and no try. The Hurricanes ended up winning the game 34-20. They deserved to win and they made less mistakes. They clawed back into the game and then showed some real hunger for the win. Go the Canes!!! They had some solid tackles and Piri had a great kicking game in the second half.

The game was awesome and I'm just looking forward to the rest of the season and getting excited for the NRL to start. I forgot how awesome footy season is in NZ. In a roundup of the weekend Crusaders won, Chiefs squeaked through with a 1 pt win (still not a Donald fan) and we are in full swing. Eden Park is still under rennovation for the world cup and over budget (surprise surprise). Some businessmen can't budget a decent cup of coffee. Last rugby news is that they are changing the school terms next year to coincide with the Rugby World Cup. Gotta love our priorities!!!

Today's gonna be a good day ...

I've decided that today's gonna be a good day, and every other day for that matter.