Sunday dawned with a good old Auckland Nor-easterly storm. Driving rain, just pelting down. Big change from the beautiful weather Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Still, that’s Auckland weather!
I got well prepared for a rainy day at the rugby. As it turned out the rain eased well before the 3:30 kick off time. We had a few angry clouds of rain and wind during the game, nothing serious.
The first group of rugby-mad enthusiasts I came across were these guys from Rivcoll Barracudas Rugby Club, Wagga Wagga, Australia. All dressed up and raring to go.
Next personality was Sam, a New Zealander with an Italian grandmother, the Martino family from Genoa. New Zealand has a very large Italian community.
A couple of female Wallabies complete with little Joey, see? Renee and Larissa from Melbourne getting into the spirit of the occasion plus equipped with reinforcement beverages.
Before the game it’s warm-up time for the Aussies with coach Robbie Deans getting moves right and supervising the warm-ups.
Shot of action during the game. Security guards at front getting in the way. Never mind. Their main job is to stop fans running onto the field, keep us off the seats when we get exciting and issue warnings to those who want to get a Mexican wave happening. No complaints. They are doing a job to ensure that families with kids enjoy the rugby without hassles.
A special mention here to the thousands of volunteers that have helped to make this rugby world cup happen. Example. I got off the bus Saturday from North Harbour Stadium into the city after the game. A fairly weary experience standing all the way. Off the bus I get, stop, sigh of relief whereupon a young uniformed volunteer quickly came to see if I was okay. How about that? Now that is looking after people.
Okay, that’s it as far as the rugby goes. My next game is this Saturday at Eden Park, Australia v Ireland. I’ll still post daily as I wander about this big city of Auckland.
PS. Special thanks to my lovely wife who has set up ‘Live Writer’ on her Mum’s computer. Ohhhhh!!! So much easier to post stuff on my blog.
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The advantages of being able to log in remotely! You are right, your posts do look better when loaded from Live Writer.
ReplyDeleteFun reading about the people. As you know I am soooo not interested in Rugby and was astounded to hear my Mum stayed up to watch a game with you! But loving the stories of your adventures around Auckland, and so glad you are enjoying it all.
lotsa love
wifey xxx