Watched a Rugby Game (NZ vs England)

Since I came back for a second year of postgrad here in New Zealand, I told myself I'd do the other things I wasn't able to do in my first year. And watching a rugby game was one of those things.

So the minute I found out England was coming over to go up against the All Blacks, I immediately bought my ticket online, even if the game was two months away. It's the All Blacks, for Chrissakes! The reigning rugby world champions!

I convinced other scholars to watch with me and we attended the June 7, 2014, friendly match between England and New Zealand. The game was held at Eden Park in Kingsland, a short train ride from the CBD. The stadium was packed. The announcer said there were 47,200 rugby fans in attendance.

I don't know if it was the excitement or the venue, but I felt the game went by so fast. The two halves run 40 minutes each, with a 10 minute intermission in the middle. I've never watched a whole game before, and I hadn't played it, so I was guessing the entire time. I know the goal was to carry the ball to other side and score a try, which is 5 points. A team is given six attempts to so. If it doesn't--meaning to say, the other team effectively stops them from scoring, then they can kick the ball into the goal post for 3 points. That's all I know. 

The game wasn't as action packed as I hope for. I expected it to be like American football with lots of long throws and catches, and tackles and dives. But most of the points scored for this game came out of boring field goal kicks. There was only one try scored, and it was in the last few minutes. And I can only assume it's because both teams had good defense, that either side found it difficult to score against the other. Anyway, what do I know?

The point is to get to experience this when you're here. Rugby is New Zealand's national sport, much like basketball is in the Philippines. And this game against England is like Team USA playing Smart-Gilas at the SM Arena. It's worth going to. Andito na rin tayo eh, di ba? I probably won't watch another live rugby match again in my life.  

Oh, by the way, New Zealand won 20-15. :)