Rugby World Cup 2011 – The World’s Here To Play

Just thought I’d give you a quick run-through of my Rugby World Cup 2011 experience…

Opening Night…Eden Park…Sit and watch the opening ceremony.

Sitting. Staying. And watching the opening game (All Blacks vs. Tonga...AB's win).

See Dan Carter (not realising how little we were going to be seeing of him).

North Harbour Stadium…Australia vs. Italy.

Australia win.

At ‘The Cloud’ to see Wales beat Samoa.

Watch USA be annihilated by Australia…but rejoice in USA’s participation.

Eden Park…NZ vs. France.

France coach says something along the lines of “we just can’t beat the All Blacks”. He was right.

Eden Park…Samoa vs. Fiji.

Watch the Battle of the Islands from the highest vantage point available.

Samoa wins (if my memory serves me correctly).

Back at The Cloud for Samoa vs. South Africa.

We (me and my Polynesian brothers) lose. But are hearts and our minds stay strong.

Eden Park…Scotland vs. England.

We (me and my Scottish cousins) lose in a heartbreaking last minute try by those English folk.

Eden Park…Wales vs. France.

A rather disappointingly boring semi-final with the French taking it out.

Watching NZ vs. Australia semi-final amongst good friends and strong All Blacks supporters (except for one Saffa who chose to purposefully betray us).

We won. So there.

Head to the North Shore Fan Zone for the Bronze Final…Australia vs. Wales.

On an unexpectedly freezing night…we picnicked.

With friends affiliating themselves with Wales. I was a good neighbour and supported Australia.

They won. Which is good.

Eden Park…Grand Final…All Blacks vs. France.

Packed stadium. International guests. Amazing atmosphere.

And yes…

WE WON.

Downtown Auckland…The Boys…The Trophy…and 250,000 fans. Awesome.

Right, well I best be off…got me some packing/organising to do before I jump from a plane which plans on being 12,000ft in the air on Saturday.

All going to plan, there will be a lovely person attached to me whom has great ability to pull cords with success.

All not going to plan, and there are a huge array of possibilities…some have been quoted as saying, “Ok well, good luck!” and “Oh my! Don’t die”. And I’ve even had, “I hope that when you land the metal in your knee doesn’t push up straight into your groin”.

I’ll do my best.