Ireland

Ireland, Ireland, forever standing tall!!

We wake to a lovely warm south west England day. Michael had the great idea of us joining him and his family in going to the Ireland v Canada at Cardiff for the Rugby World Cup.

So after breakfast it is into the car and off we go taking the scenic route through Teignmouth. We head in to Exeter to pick up Emma from her new flat. The streets look very much like the terraced housing student digs in Dunedin. It seems she has fallen on her feet after having a less than organised last few weeks. She has the law courses she wanted to do (after dropping the English papers) and has found a flat for her semester only 20 minutes away from the University.

So after a mandatory toilet stop, we are in the car and barrelling along the motorway at 120kph. The talk flows easily about life and loves but the traffic ceases to flow once we hit the Severn Bridge. It is then nose to tail crawl for an hour as we edge our way to Cardiff. Emerging from a tunnel, the traffic suddenly and inexplicably, frees up and we are off.

After a brief tiki of the local area when Michael chose to ignore Doris, we park the car in the area around the flat that Sinead owns from her university days.

With Emma now controlling direction from Google maps we walk through the student area of Cardiff and then after walk around a  lovely park beside Cardiff Castle we arrive at the ground. Within a short time, and the purchase of beer and hotdogs, we enter the stadium. It is VAST!! The seats climb upwards to the roof which is closed for the game. The noise is held within the stadium by the roof and really builds an atmosphere. 68,000 souls, nearly all cheering for Ireland. The game goes as expected with a relatively easy win for the Irish. The ABs had better watch out for the Irish. They are coached by a Kiwi and you can see the different game lines he is using; very different from what you would normally expect from a northern hemisphere team. Even the Mexican wave looks good inside the stadium; no rubbish is thrown.

After the game we meet up with Margaret, Jennifer Sinead and Paul who were sitting on the opposite side of the stadium to us. Everyone is happy and cheerful about the win. In need of refreshment we try a few pubs until we find a nice place to have a cleansing Guinness and a little more talk.

It was getting dark as we finally get back to the car and headed home. It was a couple of hours to get back home on the motorway. Michael did advise us that his night vision was terrible after having refractive surgery, and all this while doing 140 kph!!!

Home to another lovely meal from Margaret and to bed just after midnight.

And the Japanese beat the Bolks!!!