61 Days of Togetherness: Waratahs vs Blues

The time had come to go to a rugby game in person. On Saturday, the Blues (based in Auckland) were taking on the Waratahs (based in Sydney) at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

Here is a quick pop quiz for you. What is a Waratah?

A) The state flower of New South Wales

B) A thirsty rugby fan jostling for position in the beer line

C) A pair of taxidermied kangaroo testicles ubiquitously sold in Australian souvenir shops

D) A Caucasian guy playing the didgeridoo for tips at Sydney harbor

The answer is (A) at least according to the thirsty rugby fan sitting in front of Margaret at the game. We did see the other three choices in Sydney however.

As you might expect, rugby is a tough game. I am not sure if it is football tough, bull-riding tough, or cage-fighting tough. I just know that we saw some very hard hits without benefit of helmets or pads, bleeding brows, and concussion tests.

Our family allegiance was split during the game. Walter sided with the Blues – I think partly because he likes to draw attention to himself. I leaned toward the Blues as well given that we had spent six weeks there versus three days in Sydney. We all had a tendency to get caught up in the home crowd enthusiasm for the Waratahs.

We learned a bit more about the game, but we have a ways to go. We know when to cheer. We boo when everyone else boos, but we don't necessarily know why we are booing. We only know one player’s name and we only know that player due to a fan behind us yelling “Skelton, you fat f***” every time Skelton dropped the ball.

We saw many a “collapsed scrum” followed by a bit of arguing and finger pointing regarding whose fault it was that the scrum had collapsed. A certain pair of Morton brothers could excel at this verbal aspect of the game.

The game gets really exciting when the teams are flying down the field in waves and the ball is really moving. However, this can be PTSD-inducing for me as I have flashbacks to a play that I witnessed 33 years ago.

I was expecting/hoping for a bit of crowd hooliganism, but we did not witness anything more offensive than the Skelton fan club. This was a bit surprising as the crowd drank a lot. The concession stand sold four beers at a time. In general, all four beers went into the same rugby fan.

The final: Waratahs 23, Blues 11

Passionate rugby fans ready for the game. Get that father his four beers!