South Africa vs England

Rugby!!  I had the opportunity to attend my first rugby match a couple of weekends ago, and it was so fun.  A group of Alex's colleagues planned an outing to watch England take on South Africa at Ellis Park Stadium and we went!

We kicked off the day picking up our friend Jonathon and heading to meet up with the group to get Italian food for lunch.  Alex and I were bundled up, representing in our Springbok green and yellow, as we both know how to watch American football in the winter--and since it is winter here, and rugby slightly resembles American football, we stayed nice and warm.  (Several of our friends were not as forward thinking as we were.)  After lunch, we piled in cabs as our cabbie braved the traffic to get us to the stadium.

We were dropped off a short walk from the venue, and as we walked through the raucous crowd I couldn't help but think that 1) they needed a lesson in tailgating and 2) they needed a better method of funneling thousands of people through the gates to the stadium.  We did get free samples of face paint in the colors of the South African flag, although neither of us decked ourselves out.

We got to our seats, and Alex immediately delved in to teach me the rules of rugby.  Here are the rules that really struck me, and I still remember two weeks later.

1) play/the clock stops for nothing.  Literally.  A player was injured on the field, and when the John Deere Gator-esque car was being loaded with said injured player, THEY KEPT PLAYING.  I was appalled.

2) it's make it, take it.  So, you score, you get the ball back.  

3)  you can only throw the ball backward.  To move the ball forward, you must run with it or kick it to a teammate.  

4)  once you are tackled, you can just toss the ball backward to one of your teammates and play on.

5) to get a 'try', you must literally touch the ball down in the goal area (essentially the end zone).  Hence where the word 'touchdown' comes from in the glorious game of American football.

South Africa won, handily, and the mom of the two British boys I watch in the afternoons said it was because South Africa never loses at Ellis Stadium due to the altitude....I don't know whether this is true, but it was interesting none the less.

After the game, we hung out with our friends at KFC for a bit (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken is wildly popular in this country.  Alex and I did not consume any, however.)

Here are a couple photos from the game.  Until next time, my friends.

 The view from our seats...we couldn't have gotten much higher!  Similar to the Birkett family seats at Owen Field.  :)

             Steffan, Alex, Anne, and Jonathon outside the stadium.  Camilla was taking the photo.  :(