Travelling Trio

Rugby World Cup and a touch of England and Wales

• By Denise
• February 6, 2016
• No Comments

Rugby World Cup History

September – November

Our British Airways flight didn’t seem to take long but it was an 11 hour flight arriving in Heathrow mid afternoon. However it took a long time to get through customs as there were not enough people on at immigration but this was ok as we had free wifi and the downloading of information including my emails was instant. Yay – we have some good wifi at last.

We collected the rental car and while I had an idea of where we needed to go to get to Wembley to our accommodation, when it came to driving in the dark during peak traffic this was another story. However after some minor diversions (getting lost) we eventually found our way to our first experience of Airbnb accommodation. If you want to get some good cheap accommodation then this is the avenue for you. Make sure you head to their website to have a look. www.airbnb.co.nz

Our first port of call had to be the New Zealand High Commission to collect our very precious Rugby World Cup tickets. The London tube did not disappoint as we were delayed on the Bakerloo line due to signal failure. Welcome back Denise!!! Enough sarcasm…yes we got to the Embassy and collected our tickets – boy we found out just how precious these tickets are. Some of the staff at the Embassy had only managed to get a ticket to one match and that was if they had been lucky. We had tickets to 6 games including the AB’s quarter final….

After collecting our goodies it was time to have a quick walk through Trafalgar Square, and into the National Art Gallery.  Carter was suitably impressed with the artists and their ability to paint those masterpieces over 800 years ago!! It was wonderful to see him talking about the different styles ie people vs landscapes and through to the modern era of surrealism. Actually it was educational for all of us!!!

Outside Buckingham Palace

You cannot go to London without a quick visit to Buckingham Palace – unfortunately the changing of the guards during this time is every second day in Winter and it wasn’t the day we visited… A walk through St James Park and then onto Covent Garden which brought back memories for me of my first Saturday in London as a 20 year old all those years ago eating baked potatoes and watching the bushers!! This visit was just the same and as a bonus Cadbury’s were promoting their chocolate and we all got a sample a chocolate bar each – brilliant!

Back onto the tube and a visit to Harrods – no Christmas window up yet but they were preparing for this as it was shroud in black. We only had time to visit the Star Wars display and the Lego so another visit was put on our list of a ‘must do’ when we get back to London.

We are now in Rugby Mode!!

Cardiff Castle has been hit by a giant rugby ball!

Off to Cardiff to yet another Airbnb stay. Our host this time is Steve and to our delight his house was just 100m from the Millennium Stadium. How much better could it get? Steve was wonderful and gave us some ideas about what we could do and where we could go in our short time there – of course the main reason we were there was to see the All Blacks v Georgia and we had also purchased tickets to the Wales v Fiji match the day before. The weather was perfect – sunny, still and warm. The Welsh fans were in abundance in the city sitting right next to the Stadium and the officials had closed some of the roads which meant the fans were spilling out everywhere. OMG the first game in the stadium witnessing the Welsh singing their national songs – this is exactly why we purchased tickets to this game. It was simply heaven.

We met this guy who introduced himself as “Bull” at one of the pubs before the match.  He told us he was a cameraman and of course we said yeah right….however we did see him on the pitch right up close and personal with the players.  In fact we saw him at every match so he had a busy six weeks!

Photo bombed by Bull before the Wales v Fiji match

Before

The next day we were off to see our beloved AB’s and we had some of the best seats in the house! Just four rows back from the field where we were able to see our guys in full flight – Dan Carter kicking the goals and of course all those punishing tackles made.

Just before the start in prime seats!!

During the game

Oooooh aaaaah – they must hurt. The game itself was perhaps best described by the AB’s themselves “could have done better” but for us – the fans – it was awesome to be part of the action.

After the game we walked the streets with the thousands of others – soaking in the glorious feeling that we were actually a part of the World Cup. The atmosphere was buzzing and streets were alive with New Zealanders and many other nations singing and celebrating the AB’s win.  This experience reminded me of my time at the 1991 Rugby World Cup – only I think I was 21 then and instead of walking the streets – I was visiting every pub…however it was a bit different this time with our 10 year old son.  Perhaps I will remember more of the experience this time!

But do you know what – one of the most impressive things we observed was the sportsmanship of the Welsh. Not once in the two games we attended did we hear “booing” to a kick at goal – this is something we kiwis need to take note of. The Welsh recognise great sport and were able to celebrate good play and that was that. Outside of the venue – it was the same.

Cardiff Castle

We had a wonderful three days in Cardiff visiting the Cardiff Castle and taking a trip out to Mumbles – just past Swansea on the coast. Cardiff itself had many cobbled roads that weaved in and out and a fabulously intimate town centre.

Our experiences in Wales have been special and ones that we will remember for a long time to come.

By this time we were well on our way to being part of the large fanbase following the AB’s and their ventures. Because of this our next stop would be York – somewhere in the middle of our next three games so we thought this would work well. We stayed with Carolyn and Phil and their wonderfully active three little boys in a very old english farmhouse.

A typical shop in York – built in the 1600’s

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were able to relax into our travels through England just that much more. A visit into York and our first day of drizzle – it wasn’t cold – just drizzling and enough to have to put our coats on. Walking the cobbled streets of York and wandering through the Shambles (old area of town – very very old houses maintained superbly) made us realise just how much history England has to offer.

Likewise with the York Dungeon which is a must for those keen on a bit of history combined with theatre and fun. Carter got his photo taken because he had been ‘hustling sheep’ back in the time, Dave was put in shackles and had his head chopped off and I was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake!!! Through trickery I disappeared and poor ol’ Carter seemed a little worried! The whole performance was just a little scary in parts so I wouldn’t be taking anyone younger than 10 to this…

Back to Carolyn and Phil’s and Carter was having such a great time playing with James, Ryan and Liam that it was difficult for us to have to say we had to leave for our next destination.

However, this was to be a wonderful stop too! Off down to Kibworth – a little town not far from Leicester where my friend Cath, Scott and their three children are now living in a lovely modern three storey home! Enough room for the three of us and of course Carter just loved playing with Kobe who is the same age. Cath and I shed a few tears, a few laughs and reminisced about what our netball team would be doing on their annual weekend away.

Kobe, Carter, Dave and I headed off to the Foxton Locks for the day – once we managed to find our way there it was cool to see the canal boats making their way through the locks. The boys were able to help one boat make its way up the lock by opening and shutting the gates when asked to. A small museum was able to provide us with the history of the Locks and tell us that there was once an amazing winch that could haul the boats up and down a very high hill about one hundred years ago. However, due to a downturn in the economy and then other inventions there was not enough canal traffic to warrant the continuation of the winch. Surprisingly there is still about 3000 miles of working canals throughout England and about 30 boats per day venture through this particular waterway at Foxton Locks. Amazing… That night Dave and I were able to head to a Turkish restaurant in Leicester – a real treat as Cath and Scott looked after Carter for us!

We had our tickets to the Canada v Romania rugby pool game and Cath was able to get some last minute tickets so we all headed off to watch the game in Leicester. Another great experience in another great stadium. The game was so close with the scoreline tipping each way throughout the match. Romania were on top at the end so achieved the vital points in their Pool.

Next it was off to Newcastle to see two more games of rugby however, due to Newcastle’s accommodation being sold out we had to stay in an expensive Bed and Breakfast about 1.5hours away in Alnick. This was still OK as we have the rental car and we are fine with driving in England.

Our first game here was the All Blacks v Tonga and this time we were able to watch Richie warming up just 5m away…and then after the game Carter was able to get right up close and personal with Beauden Barrett which was special. The huge St James stadium is usually used as a football stadium and had been transformed for the two rugby games however only half the fans could see the big screen as it was in a terrible position. Having said that, it didn’t really matter as the game was easy to follow.

The next game was an afternoon game with Samoa v Scotland which ended up probably being the closest game so far. We managed to find a car park just a couple of hundred metres from the stadium again. Geez we are tinny!!! I guess because Newcastle is not that far from Scotland it appeared the Scots had travelled down in force. So many kilts and so much singing became highly infectious that I felt myself trying to join in on the singing and chanting for the Scottish team…

Carter and I pre-empting the result!!!

The All Blacks are now in the quarter finals (as expected) and we have tickets!!! Yay…..The logistics of this means however that we must venture back to Cardiff in Wales in a week’s time so in order to reduce the back-tracking we have decided to spend the week in Scotland attempting to trace some of my ancestors.

In the meantime despite the England team no longer in the Cup the fans are definitely in Rugby World Cup mode both the day before the games and the day of the game brings a rugby fever similar to that in the NZ Rugby World Cup in 2011 but multiplied so much more.

Up close and personal with Beauden Barrett

For the quarter finals we had arranged more Airbnb accommodation a good hour and half drive from Cardiff – it was the closest we could get given the buzz of the World Cup. This worked in our favour though as we stayed in a three storey home over 400 years old. Crickey this was an experience – they still had the servant’s quarters and remnants of the bell system to call the servants all with the sneaky back door entrance and staircase hidden from view. Our hosts were obliging and real. They had purchased a canal boat a year prior and were loving taking life a bit easier with hosting Airbnb clients and cruising on the canals when time allowed.

So on the day of the quarter finals we made our way to Cardiff and tin-bums again got a carpark just 100m from the stadium!!!! It helped that we had stayed in Cardiff a few weeks prior and had some local knowledge – wink wink nudge nudge…

Wow – we thought Cardiff was busy for the earlier games – well something had changed and the human numbers were twice what we had experienced earlier. This time however, it was a combination of black/silver/white for the AB’s and red/blue for those French supporters. There was so much anticipation with our history against the French in Cardiff but you know in Steve Hansen’s words – “we know what we’re doing” and he was absolutely right. What a game – and at the end the guys all stayed out and thanked the fans again for their support. I guess they understand we have travelled far and wide to support them so it’s a lovely gesture for the players to thank us….

There were a large number of Irish at this quarter final and this is probably because they were hedging their bets that they would be the team to play us in the quarters. It could so easily have been that too however the Irish had earlier beaten France to be top of their pool so their opposition ended up being Argentina. I mention that the Irish were there simply because they would break out into song at any given time during the match and like I mentioned about the Scots – it was highly infectious and heart warming. I don’t know – there’s just something about the Irish….they certainly know how to have fun.

So the All Blacks were now into the semi-finals and this game would be in London in a week’s time. While we were tempted to try to purchase tickets to this game we decided we had spent enough on the games and that there were many more travel experiences we could use that money for. A few weeks earlier we had organised a housesit in the country looking after a house, five acres and a number of animals while the owners went to Florida. (More about this later in another post). This meant we could travel to the city of Bath to watch both the semi-finals and final of the Rugby World Cup in a local pub and what an occasion these games turned into. Dave and I hooked into the cider (Dave much less as he was driving) and I must say the cider did not disappoint. We tried the pub food too and Carter was impressed – beans and chips!! The locals were sitting on the fence – applauding good play but not as rowdy as I thought they might have been. I guess that’s because the English team had been bundled out early!! With some friendly banter between us the atmosphere was a very pleasant place to be – and especially because we were on the winning side 🙂

Both the semi-final v South Africa (20-18) and the final v Australia (34-17) were simply sublime and a true show of determination, skill and professionalism. A plan had been put in motion way back in 2011 to be the first team to win back to back World Cups and our Richie was the man to lead this team to achieve that feat. We are so proud of the team and their management in achieving their goal and giving us kiwis yet another moment in time to be proud of. Thank you and well done AB’s.

I think that’s enough for today. I will write some more about England at a later date.
Bye for now.