Wembley!

That night, it was time for rugby, take two: the Wallabies v. Barbarians. Despite the fact that it was bitterly cold, that it was a work night, and that I was still pretty shattered from the weekend in Wales, there was much excitement.

I somehow managed to arrive a full hour before the other two girls, so like the true nerd I am, I sat in the seats of Wembley and read a book. Granted, it was a novel that I'm teaching at the moment and was trying to catch up on (the kids were further ahead with it than I was), but still - I'm in one of the greatest sports arenas in the entire world, and I was reading a book.

Being so early meant that I got to hear the background story to the game. It was the first rugby match to be played at the new Wembley, and was the centenary anniversary of the 1908 London Olympics (which, conveniently Australia won the rugby gold medal at over the British). The British team at the time were represented by the Cornwall County team, so instead of playing in their home socks, the Barbarians played in the current Cornwall County socks. Also, her highness the Princess Royal was there to present gold medals to the winners, and silver to the losers, to commemorate the event. Took me quite a while to figure out that the Princess Royal was Princess Anne (I knew it was either Anne or Margaret, and that one of them was dead - thanks to the British guy who sat in front of me and told me!).

The seats we had were incredible. I don't know how I managed to pick them, having never been there before, but I managed to fluke it. 4th row, right behind the try line. Outstanding! We were in a prime position to watch the warm up, to see the tries being scored, and to try to get George Gregan's attention as he warmed up for the Barbarians, traitor that he is.

The coup de grace of the evening actually happened after the match. We hung around to watch the medal ceremony (Australia won, 18-11), and the players came back down onto the pitch. We lined up at the fence with the boys from Nudgee College who happened to be on their rugby tour, and three of the Wallabies came around to shake hands. Not only did I touch three Wallabies, but they also signed my boxing kangaroo flag! How excitement!

Oh yeah, and one more thing - we managed to get into a bit more drunken singing! We were sober, well, I was sober, the girls had just had a couple of beers, but somehow on the trek back to the train, shuffling along with the thousands of other people, we came across some really drunk Aussie boys. and got into the spirit by singing a few Australian songs. Tamara and I were in stitches - you can't take us anywhere!