I heard a distant eco in my mind saying, "England - Rugby World Cup Champions"... I shut it out quickly
Walking down the streets of Subiaco District in Perth at 5pm on the 18 of October you could have been excused for thinking you where in Twickenham for a 6 nations game the red and white of English rugby was every where...
My stomach was turning at the thought of what lay ahead, I was in Australia, it was the rugby world cup, and England had a team that had the skills and track record to be world champions... And I was here with tickets for this game England V South Africa and both Semis and Final...
In Rugby it cannot get better than this... I heard a distant eco in my mind saying it can "England - Rugby World Cup Champions"... I shut it out quickly not wanting to tempt fate...
I had managed to meet up with a group of lads I had met while climbing Aconcagua in South America in January 2003. Ian who had also hit the world trail in June 2003 and had just completed working on a Turtle conservation project in Mexico and Seth who was now a proud father of a 5 month old daughter. He had discovered that his climbing exploits have nothing on fatherhood he was enjoying every new experience but like all things in life it came with some shitty stuff as well, literally, and a few headaches.
The Toohy's were flowing well along with Bundies and coke, the bar was playing live music, well not a bar but a car park at the back of an Irish bar... it was packed with Springboks and English supporters. There were Bowler hats, red and white and yellow wigs, face paint, Flags of both nations and the band played a rendition of 'Swing Low Sweet Chariots'...
As the clock ticked closer to kick off I found it hard not to show my nerves as the tension grew, Ian also felt the strain, The rest of the lads laughed and had another drink... I had to get going to the stadium to let off some tension ...
We finished our drinks and hit the road, the streets were alive with fans singing and laughing every bar was still packed. Turning on to the main road the stadium loomed out of the darkened streets like the Coliseum in Rome... The lights blazing into the night sky... The sound of the crowed could be heard, expectation and tension were building not diminishing...
We all split going our separate ways to our seats... On entering the ground I painted the George Cross on my face and entered the stadium, it was packed and the sound hit me as I entered... My eyes where filled with Red and White the odd SA flag could be seen amongst the sea of White... Shit I'm here! I stood soaking it all in.
The teams came out and the sound cranked up to full volume. It was a tense game both sides fighting hard but the Boks had the better of the play... at half time it was six all and we where lucky to be still that close.
My heart was racing at 180 per minute I had been running with every ball and felt every fumble and knock on and foul...
To help calm down at half time I had a pie, nothing like a pie to settle the stomach...
The second half was just as tense but Wilko helped settle the nerves with some marksman kicking off penalties and drop goals... But a charge down and a cracking kick and chase by Greenwood gave us the try we needed to settle the game... At full time we had notched up 25 points to 6 from the Boks... Job done ... on to the next game.
Fans from both side drank and sang together after the game... football has a lot to learn from Rugby...
Steve
