The Rugby World Cup Final
Back in October I was
lucky enough to go and see England v South Africa in
the rugby world cup final. It was a superb weekend.
My boss Richard managed to get tickets. Along with
his brother James, other work colleague, Ritchie, we
took the Eurostar to Calais and Richard drove to
Paris. He had found a cheap hotel about a 45 minute
walk from the stadium.
We arrived Friday afternoon. Ritchie and went and
bought a rugby ball and tested our skills in a local
park. We certainly weren't going to be selected to
play in the final! In the evening we did some re-con
and walked to the Stade De France. It took awhile,
but it was interesting to see parts of Paris you
wouldn't normally see. We watched the 3rd place play
off between France and Argentina in the fan zone
setup outside the ground.
Saturday we had a quick breakfast and made our way
into Paris to the world cup village setup just by the
Eiffel Tower. After taking in the atmosphere and
watching New Zealanders trying to sell their tickets
we walked to Garde De Nord to meet Richard and his
friends before taking the train to the stadium.
The atmosphere was electric and the fans from both
sides mingled together and shared a joke and some
banter. It was all very good humoured. It was a good
game, but England never really looked like winning.
We did think England had scored a try, but it was
rightly ruled out. South Africa deserved to win.
Sunday was the sad drive back to England. We had a
late train so ended up in the duty free and an
Australian bar watching the final Grand Prix of the
season. An exciting weekend ended once I got home
just before midnight.
Some photos of the weekend are here. Mostly
taken with my phone so not great, but certainly
gives an idea of the weekend.
