Jimmy Cowan warming up for the All Blacks
I wasn’t so much looking forward to going back to the same ground that we lost THAT world cup game at 2 years ago as the prospect of a weekend out in Cardiff. That all changed when we got into Millennium stadium on the Saturday afternoon and I remembered how much I loved this ground, the atmosphere and the Welsh crowds…
Cardiff itself was buzzing on the Friday night when we got in after a somewhat bumpy, propeller driven plane trip from Dublin. After meeting up with some good friends of ours (a kiwi girl engaged to a Welsh guy, now this was going to be interesting) we headed out on the town. The Welsh I have always found to be great fun and very welcoming and friendly every time I’ve been over that way and this night was no different. We had a blast pub crawling our way around and chatting to rugby fans, non rugby fans and narrowly escaped a couple of encounters with, shock horror, soccer fans.
Saturday dawned sunny, which was not appreciated by the pounding of my much abused brain when we forced ourselves out into daylight at 10.30am. Already the streets were pumping, pubs were overflowing and you couldn’t sit down to eat anywhere – all tables had been packed away to accommodate the throes of rugby fans pouring into drinking establishments throughout the city. We settled for a quick cheeseburger and headed to that old favourite Wetherspoons to ask that dog about his hair. Shoving our way through a mix of Welsh and Kiwi rugby fans and Cardiff City and Swansea soccer fans we finally found somewhere to lean, feel sorry for ourselves and rehydrate – with double vodkas, what else?!
A couple of hours or so and some time spent in the brewery quarter later we walked on down to Millennium. The stadium. In my (I would say humble but I’d be lying) opinion, Millennium is the best stadium in the world that I’ve watched a game at. That’s compared to say, the MCG in Melbourne, the Nou Camp in Barcelona, the Bernabeu in Madrid, Croke Park (sorry) and even though I’d hate to admit it, the good old Cake Tin in Wellington. Millennium is just amazing in the fact that no matter where you sit in the entire stadium you feel as though you are literally on top of the players (which not many girls would complain about when Dan Carter is playing that day). The sound reverberates but not like an echo, more like thunder rolling and being recycled and going again.
Soaking up this atmosphere I’m almost shocked when the Haka suddenly kicks off in front of us. The initial sound of the players is immense and strong, mixed with the few hundred kiwis chanting along in our section of the stadium. A verse or 2 in though and all we can hear are the cries of ‘Waleees, Waleees’ drowing out even the might of those deep pacific voices. The Welsh are passionate about their rugby, about their country in general, and no one appreciates that more than us kiwis. It was a somewhat goose bump creating time during that Haka, especially with all the hyped up talk about the Haka and Wales in the media the past couple of years (mostly driven, surprisingly, by the current coach of Wales, who incidentally happens to be a Kiwi). Go figure.
The game itself was not one of the best spectacles ever to grace the rugby stage. There was a lot of kicking, which we New Zealanders are not known for – we love the chip and chase, the little kicks over the top and the blinding speed of our backline to be on display. But nevertheless the crowd had no difficulty getting into the spirit of things and the atmosphere in the stadium was electric. The All Blacks ended up fending off a late Welsh charge to narrowly win by 7 points and maintain that unbeaten run that the Welsh team were so desperate to break.
After the game the Cardiff pubs had much the same atmosphere as before it. Everyone was happy, friendly, interested in chatting to each other and only slightly more worse for wear than the morning. It was a long night of celebrations in Cardiff that night and another brilliant weekend in the hospitality of the Welsh. And those awful memories of the last time I was at Millennium Stadium for an All Blacks game are a thing of the past. Almost.
Kelly
