The Big Rubbee ball & a Welsh spear.

Saturday 15^th October

The day started with a run down to the waterfront to blow away the cobwebs from the evening before. We decided to take a look inside the big rugby ball at the Cloud. After an hour long queue (with Bernard Cribbins' brother) we, along with 200 other souls, went in to see a fantastic surround video (if there is such a thing) celebrating all that’s great about NZ and rugby. The more I see the effort that NZ have put into this RWC the more I worry about what is in store for us in 2015. It’s going to be like the day after the Christmas decorations come down here after the final. Stand still long enough and someone will put RWC bunting on your head. 

A sneaky champagne lunch after running back to Rachel & Dave’s and we were off to see 'Finding Murdoch' a play about the only All Black to have been kicked off a tour (Wales in ’72 after punching a security guard since you asked). Interesting enough story but a bit am/dram in parts acting-wise.

 We found him! Lee Majors plays All Black Keith Murdoch

We left the theatre to be met by a protest, possibly by students but it seemed like a coalition-type event. It was raucous but peaceful enough. Further investigation revealed that it was one of 1000s co-ordinated around the world. The general consensus was that it was nice to see students up that early on a Saturday.

 Down with this sort of thing!

We popped in to see a few of R&D’s friends that lived nearby and were preparing to set off for the Wales v France game. They had put some extra special effort into painting a banner to remind the French of past misdemeanours. You'd have to get up early to get anything past these boys.

Back to R&D’s for a bar-b-q and then the evening’s main event, Wales v France. Warburton’s tackle will unfortunately be the reason why everyone remembers what was a great Wales performance. The 14 guys that stayed on the pitch were awesome. It’s a pity they left 11 points out there at the end of the game. Any one of 4 chances would have got them through. Instead we have a French team who got beaten by Tonga (Tonga!!!???) in the final.