Turned out not to just be the day we wore black to support the All Blacks' quarter-final match against France in the Rugby World Cup currently being played in Europe, but a day of mourning as well.Earlier in the day, the Aussies had been trounced by England 10-12, the same England who had lost 36-0 to the Springboks earlier in the tournament. That was a real shocker. And then last night the favourites to win the Cup, the NZ All Blacks, lost to France 18-20. Couldn't believe it. We were all over at Pete and Lauren's watching the match - the wee one wearing his black NZ shirt for the first time. Pete's a Maori - how amazing is that - two Kiwis in Durham (there are more) and we live behind each other.
Never mind that the Pommy ref was just terrible, even allowing a forward pass try from the French, and not carrying through the penalty for NZ in the dying seconds of the game, we just didn't play well enough.
The bookies, and fans, had us tipped to win. And somewhere in the US is a very unhappy chappie who's just lost $4.2M.
But we'll continue to wear black. For another four years.
4 comments:
I was introduced to rugby several years back when the St Paul Pigs played the team from Rugby, England. I accompanied my Kiwi buddy who wore his all blacks jersey and spent the evening shouting harassment at the "bloody f'in Pommies". I got an education.
It wasn't fair. The Kiwis didn't get to wear their totally black uniforms.
And the jersey issue was pre-planned by the French too! We've always worn our black kit whenever playing them, as their normal national kit is a lighter blue.
Reading the NZ Herald over the last few days, the country is deep in despair ;)
But Andrew wears his black shirt with real pride, doesn't he? Too cute!
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