I’m in London, baby, so my first post will be about – what else? – rugby. For those of you not familiar with the game, I won’t bore you with all the rules except to say that it is NOT like American football. When I first started getting into rugby, my problem was that I related everything to the NFL. Not only can you not pass the ball forward in rugby but the points awarded are totally different and there’s something called a scrum (which has its own specific rules) and a position called a “hooker” (really). What I do like about the game is that its physical play is similar to football and hockey with much fewer breaks: two 40-minute halves with a 15 minute intermission and few commercial time-outs.
My first live game was a doozy – a test match between New Zealand and England at Twickenham Stadium where all of England’s national games are played. The atmosphere is amazing – the stadium seats about 80,000 but there are only 3 tiers so spectators are really close to the action. There was so much chanting that the All Blacks famous pre-game Haka dance was completely drowned out! While England lost, the crowd applauded their side’s hard-fought effort which would never happen in the results-driven arena of American sports.
In any event, I was hooked! Realizing this, my lovely husband Antonio decided to give me the best Valentine’s Day present – tickets for yesterday’s 6 Nations match between England and Italy. The 6 Nations is an annual tournament amongst the 6 best European Rugby-playing countries: England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy. Of these, Italy is the newest entrant and while they’ve improved a great deal, are still not up to par with the other teams. This was certainly the case yesterday as England crushed them 59-13, with Chris Ashton scoring a record 4 tries (the equivalent to a touchdown). Even Antonio, who was in theory rooting for Italy, had a good time as we watched legendary “sir” Jonny Wilkinson get into the game late.
I’d highly recommend taking in a rugby match, even if it’s a premiership game rather than the national team, as you’ll be swept away by the atmosphere. In the meantime, here are some photos I took:
Members of the Royal Marines hitched a ride on the English flag!
Kick-off
