CARDIFF, WALES

Cardiff, Wales - Coupe Du Monde 2007 - Rugby World Cup 2007

We got off the train some 45 minutes of or so later in Cardiff and there were All Black and French jerseys everywhere. The atmosphere was already electric as everyone was anticipating the biggest game of the World Cup so far.
Olivia's Aunty and Uncle we in town for the game as well and she spent a bit of time on the phone trying to suss out where to meet up. They had come all the way from NZ!
As we had arrived very early in the morning we had plenty of time to look around so we went and got a coffee and met so many Kiwis all primed for the game. After finally locating them we went and met Olivia's Aunty Trish and Uncle Les. We went to the infamous 'Angel Pub' where All Black Keith Murdoch punched over a security guard and became the first All Black every sent home from a tour for a couple of pre-match beers. It was really great to see them both and to share in the ocassion and moment and whilst we were there my Dad rang and I met him out side the pub with our bags so that he could take them back to his hotel for us.
From there we went and met our mates and my cousin Charmaine and Ty in another pub in Cardiff where we watched the Aussies go down to Perry and his England team. Jared and I started chanting 'Four more years George!' as a poke at George Gregan for his comments in the last World Cup. The rest of the pub that was pretty much All Black supporters joined in and we were all hyped and ready for the Quarter Final against our arch World Cup nemesis France. It was here that one of the funniest (but tragic) things happened. I was taking a photo of Olivia and the others when a kiwi guy asked me if I wanted him to take one for us. So I said yes. While he was trying to usher us all into a group he dropped our camera into his full pint glass of beer. It hit the bottom of his glass with a plonk and I didnt know whether to get angry or laugh! Trevor and Jared cracked up laughing as good mates would and I grabbed the camera and ran to the bathroom to see what I could salvage. I put the camera under the hand drier but alas to no avail it was stuffed. Luckily the memory stick was in tact but that meant no more photos from our camera- which sucked as I was so looking forward to going to the Millenium Stadium as I had heard so much about it. This was the last photo our camera took!:So we made our way to the stadium later on that evening and mingled with the masses walking through the streets to the stadium. There were French and All Black jerseys everywhere. I was quietly apprehensive about the game as the French had always seemed to play well against us in the World Cup and little did I know that this would come back to haunt us again soon! The stadium was amazing and the atmosphere inside electric.

The rest they say is history and I must be honest and say that we both shed a tear when the final whistle went. It was such a disappointment although the French fans were so gracious in victory and kept telling us to keep our heads up and not to look sad! Easy for them to say they hadn't just fell over the last hurdle in yet another World Cup.

We went into Cardiff with Martin, Katrina and Aunty Fay after a couple of sad quiets at the stadium and sat at a table surrounded by other desolate Kiwis all very quiet and shocked. Then we walked back to Dad's hotel and crawled into bed with the full impact of what had just happened not quite a realisation.

The next morning the restaurant was like a morgue of distraught New Zealanders all absolutely depressed. I had breakfast with Olivia's Aunty and Uncle and she joined us a bit later. I felt really sorry for Dad and his workmates as they had bus loads of clients that they had to keep happy even though some of them had literally just arrived for the that game and the semis and final.

Dad drove us back to London on his way to Dover and Calais (AGAIN) and we caught the tube to Trev's and had yet another post World Cup failure analysis. At least we didn't lose to England.