So, how was the Rugby?

Oh my God I loved the Rugby 7s!

I made my way into the city via a very packed train, and I met up with about 50,000 friends at the station all going to watch the matches.

I was running a little late so I missed the first game, but I got to see the following games:
Samoa v Tonga, England v Sri Lanka, Australia v Cook Islands, Canada v Niue, Wales v Namibia, Tonga v Uganda, Cook Islands v Sri Lanka, Fiji v Scotland, New Zealand v Kenya, South Africa v Samoa, England v Australia

Here is a shot of the stadium and the players from England (white) and Sri Lanka (green)



Rugby 7s is basically a scaled down version of regular Rugby, so these guys had to be all over the field all the time. They even had their own mini-scrums going on:



Each game was about 15 minutes long. There are two 7-minute halves and the object of the game is to get a try, which is when the ball gets placed on the ground in the end zone by a player (a little like gridiron (American) football). The placement of the ball is key because the spot on which the ball is placed in the end zone indicates where the team can try for a 2 point conversion. The two point conversion is when the ball is taken a few meters down field and kicked through the goal posts.

There is kicking, passing, lots of running, and, of course, tackling. Tackling with no padding or helmets. And, these guys play rough. I hate to say it, but rugby guys make American gridiron players look like big fat scaredy-cats. All covered up with padding and helmets, how is a girl supposed to really enjoy watching that? If you are going to have a bunch of hot, sweaty, muscle-y men wrestling for control of a ball, they should show as much skin as possible, that's all I'm saying.

The games themselves were of varied quality, some teams were obviously more skilled than others, but the crowd cheered for everyone. There was heaps of team spirit for individual countries, but the underdogs would always get the most encouragement from the crowd. The excitement of the crowd was so contagious, even I was on my feet cheering and yelling by the end of the night.

There were heaps of people waving flags from all over the world, but, of course, this one was most prevalent:



At the end of the night, the crowds made thier way home:


I tried to get tickets to the finals which were played the next night, but they were sold out! Instead I went to the Melbourne Festival, and on the way home I asked someone on the tram for the Rugby 7s results:
New Zealand won the gold
England the silver
Fiji the bronze

Australia was 4th place.