LaLa's Adventures Abroad

On February 14, I was invited by one of our vendors to an important rugby match. I say, “important” because the entire country stops during rugby matches. This match was part of the “Men’s Six Nations” series featuring England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales in a historic tournament format.  This particular match was between Ireland and Italy. (Ireland won!) Ireland and Italy have met 39 times, with Ireland winning 35 of those times.

I must confess I am unclear about the actual game play and rules for a rugby match. But, wanting to be somewhat prepared, I went to the World Rugby Foundation website and watched the 20 minute “Rugby for Beginners” video online. It was somewhat helpful…..but after talking with many folks, the rules are not so straightforward.

The newly elected female President was in attendance and they had a nice bit of pomp and circumstance at the beginning which included not only the Ireland National Anthem, but the Italian National Anthem, the Rugby Foundation Anthem and the President’s Anthem. This particular match was history making as it was the first time a match was refereed by a woman. Her name is Hollie Davidson and she was a force in the match! The referee is “IN” the match – in the thick of all the action. Amazing.

I found the game to be super enjoyable – I liked the pace of the game. It keeps going unlike American football which stops at every play and even stops for commercial breaks. None of that here – the game just keeps moving. I also thought the fluidity of the teams was fun to watch. The player who is kind of like the quarterback seemed to have eyes in the back of his head – they all seemed to know where everyone else was at all times. The ball cannot be passed in a forward motion, just sideways and backwards, but it was so fluid. Also, I observed a player getting his injured knee bandaged during play – the trainer was out on the field and the game just kept moving.

I also liked the crowd after the game. In the US, a huge stadium will empty within 15 minutes of a match ending….not in rugby! Fans lingered around and had a bit of an “afterparty”. It was a very engaged crowd.