I've got a FEVER...

Sunday, September 09, 2007

…and the only cure is more Rugby World Cup!!! For those of you that are not aware (Most, if not all of you, I’m sure…), the Rugby World Cup kicked off on this past Friday in France, which means New Zealand is going CRAZY right now. Rugby to Kiwis is like soccer to Brazilians-The Beautiful Game, and definitely a national obsession. The Kiwis have been gearing up for this event for the past 4 years, and now that it has finally arrived, it is their time to shine. The All-Blacks (NZ’s national team) come into the tournament as the odds-on favorites to win it all, which only adds to the excitement here in NZ. Needless to say, with my affinity for international sporting events, combined with what some may call an over-eagerness for hanging out in pubs and watching sports for hours on end (See Kendall’s NCAA Marathons), I’m getting caught up in the fervor myself… Who would’ve guessed…?

The tournament started with Argentina beating the host nation France 17-12 on Friday night, which was actually 7am on Saturday morning here in Queenstown. My crazy Argentinean friend Federico came over to watch the match, and he was going insane. He was on the phone with his family back in Argentina, yelling and cheering in such fast Spanish that all I could do was laugh. Apparently, similar to the Soccer World Cup, many nations around the world come to a stand-still while their team is competing. Fede said that his dad and all of his friends skipped work to stay home and watch the match. It’s a pretty cool phenomenon that the US misses out on since we aren’t really competitive in any of the so-called global sports (Soccer and rugby being two of the more prevalent examples). Anyway, I think the global implications of such a tournament is another reason I get caught up in these events (I watched every single match of the 2006 Soccer World Cup). There is something kind of cool in knowing that somewhere in the world, an entire nation is sitting on the edge of its seat, living and dying with every pass, every run, every tackle. Somehow it makes the world seem like a smaller place to me, and with my being such a sports fan, establishes some sort of common ground with people that I otherwise couldn’t even communicate with. Not to get too philosophical or anything…

Back to the matches- the loss was a crushing blow to Les Bleus’ (French Nat’l Team) hopes of winning the cup, to be sure… They’re not out of it yet, but the loss puts them in a difficult position to make it to the elimination rounds out of the so-called Group of Death. They are in Group D, which includes Ireland and the previously mentioned Argentina, with all three ranked in the top 6 of the latest IRB World Rankings. Only two teams advance to the knock-out stages from each group, so France definitely have their work cut out. Argentina gave themselves a huge boost by pulling off the upset, and are now in a great position to make it to the elimination stages. Ireland is up next for the Pumas, Wed. morning at 6am I believe… I will be able to watch that one before heading to the airport for my trip back to the US.

Last night was my final night at the Sofitel, and I went out to celebrate by watching three consecutive rugby matches, which lasted all night long. First up was New Zealand against Italy, which was a blow-out from the get-go. The All-Blacks scored a try (Comparable to a touchdown in US Football) just 1 minute in, and the rout was on. Final score: 76-14 to NZ. Needless to say, the bars were going crazy at the beginning, but as the lead increased, everyone just settled in and hoped to avoid any major injuries. It was a perfect start to the tournament for the favorites.

Next up was Australia, another world rugby powerhouse, against Japan. This one was even more lopsided than the NZ-Italy game. Final score: 91-3 to AUS. Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark… Sidenote: The interesting thing about the Rugby World Cup is that there are a handful of teams that are light years ahead of the other competition (NZ, AUS, England, South Africa, Argentina, France, Ireland, to name a few), but to have a worthwhile tournament, you need numerous teams to compete (20 teams in the case of the RWC). Hence, you get some blow-outs in the early rounds of pool play. The good matches will happen when two of the heavyweights link up. The elimination rounds are going to be insane. Anyway, back to the AUS-Japan match- due to the lopsided score, we didn’t watch much of this one. I headed home after it was over, and set up shop on the couch for Team USA vs. England, which was set to start at 4am local time.

So, any of you know how the match turned out? Any massive headlines on ESPN.com or any of the other US sports websites touting the fate of the Eagles?? I’ve searched high and low, and have yet to find any American news outlet that is even reporting on the Rugby World Cup, much less what happened in the USA-England match. Ridiculous. Anyway, the US lost 28-10, but all the announcers kept saying was how well they were playing, how they were proving themselves, and how England have some serious issues to sort out if they plan on defending their title (England won the last RWC in 2003). As mentioned above, England is a perennial rugby powerhouse, and I guess the score was expected to be even more lopsided than it was. The US played well enough on defense, but they had no attack whatsoever. Their points came on a penalty goal (Comparable to a field goal), and a fluke try. Due to the hour the match was on, I found myself dozing off during the “action”, and was glad to be able to crawl into bed at the match’s conclusion- around 545am. 7 hours of sleep, and I’m ready for more! Wales and Canada get things underway tonight at midnight, to be followed by South Africa vs. Samoa, Scotland vs. Portugal, and Ireland vs. Namibia. I doubt Ill be pulling an all-nighter again, but will see. Like I said, I’ve got the fever, and theres only one cure… It going to be ROUGH to be back in the US with all of this is going on. I’m sure the games aren’t being televised if there aren’t any news stories to speak of. Ill have to figure something out though…

If this has piqued your interest at all, check out www.rugbyworldcup.com to catch up on all of the action. Be careful though- its addictive…

Back in the US in 5 days…

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