A Collection of Games

Well, the away front has been quiet for a few days as we recovered from yet another intense weekend of rugby. We left you on Saturday after the All Black victory over France and anticipating snow and ice the following day.

Sunday dawned bright, clear and sunny.  We did get some snow - about five minutes of sleet at midday. Then it was down to the Pirates club for a trifecta of matches.

Fiji vs Samoa was up first and it was a surprising match.  Attendance was great - about 60,000 at Eden Park and Samoa played a very much more structured game.  Much less flamboyant hurling around of the ball and much more control.  Most of Samoas points came from penalties and they well deserved their 27 - 7 win, although it was a very different style of rugby than we are used to from them.  This was followed by Ireland's demolition of Russia (62 - 12) and then the match we had been waiting for all day: Scotland v Argentina.

The mathematics of Pool B dictated that Argentina had to win in order to have a chance at progressing to the quarter finals.  Win they did with a try and conversion in the 73rd minute of the game that put them one point ahead. It was a thoroughly enthralling match that went right down to the wire.

Monday turned into a nothing much kind of day (probably as a result of the emotional energy expended watching Argentia v Scotland the previous night) so we went for a walk around the local golf course and then headed down to Pirates for Wales vs Namibia.  This was a cricket score for Wales (81 - 7).

The Organ Pipes

On Tuesday we bought Fi some new walking shoes at Frames Footwear, had coffee at Mazagran in town and then we went for a walk up to the Organ Pipes on Mt Cargill.  This was a somewhat precipitous climb - the first twenty minutes of the walk was basically straight up.  The Organ Pipes (columnar basalt for the geologically minded readers) were a disappointment, as most have collapsed and all there was to see was a pile of what looked like basaltic kerb stones but there were great views of the Otago Peninsula.

 

Having well stretched the legs, we retreated to town and decided to sample a couple of bars we had heard about.  First we went to Tonic; quite a modern looking place with a good selection of beers but decidedly uncomfortable seating, so we thought we'd try the Green Man Brewery to watch Canada play Japan.  This turned out to be a bad idea.  The beers had strange overtones and flavours and the food was unappealing - the mushroom pizza tasted like it had had cheap cream of mushroom soup poured over it (erk).  The Canada v Japan match ended in a draw - a result that flattered Canada and was a shame for the Japanese, who were trying to break a 20 year winless streak at Rugby World Cups.

So it was back to Pirates to watch the Italy v USA game. Italy won and got their bonus point for four tries, but their kicking was less than accurate, and, on form, I doubt whether they'll get up against Ireland on Sunday.

Wednesday arrived and Mike's knees were letting him know that they had not appreciated Tuesday's trip to the Organ Pipes, so he stayed at home, while Fi went to look at rhododendrons in bloom at Glenfalloch gardens.


Later that night, we repaired to the club to watch Georgia storm home against Romania to record their second RWC win by 25 points to 9. High five Drew! And our consumption of Buccaneer and cheese rolls is setting records. We say a big thanks to Pirates, as we now know several of the regulars well and sit with them, rather than on the visitor's side of the auditorium.  Hopefully there will be some Highlanders v Western Force fixtures soon so either we can visit them or they can visit us in Perth.