Twickenham Six Nations

It Six Nations time here which is the biggest rugby competition in Europe and we had the chance to go see a sold out match at Twickenham with 80,000+ other fans and our mate Dan. It was the first time we had seen Dan in a couple of years so we were looking forward to our trip. We were glad Dan rang us 3 months ago in the middle of the night offering tickets to this match as the Six Nations tickets are highly sought after with some match tickets recently being sold for 1500 euros (around $3000!!!).

So the day started off with a 1 hour train ride which by the half way point was completely packed, and by packed we mean no chance in the world of moving anywhere. The train stopped at the last 5 stations to waiting fans that had to be turned away. It was crazy. Anyway, once we arrived at Twickenham we followed the heaving croud towards the stadium and met Dan by the policeman on the horse by the hotdog stand.

Our seats were like 3 from the back at the very top so we were like, really really high up. We couldnt believe they let people buy bottled beer there, a very dangerous missile from where we were sitting but the rugby fans are very polite compared to soccer fans. No beer allowed at those matches. The match got under way and it turned out to be fairly boring. England struggled to beat Italy which were the six nations newbys so were not expected to win. Italy scored the best try though, a refreshing break in a fairly slow game. The slow game made for a great crowd atmosphere as the entertainment turned back to the masses with singing and mexican waves the order of the day. We had a lot of fun with Dan and his rugby mates and decided to head into the Twickenham pubs post match for more fun and games.

After the long trek from the stadium to the local town of Twickenham we settled into the first pub available, something which a hundred other rugby goers had already done. The pub had hundreds of used Twickenham tickets stuck on the ceiling so we wasted no time in hoisting some poor tall skinny lass up to fix one of ours with some chewing gum. A few pubs later and we ended up racing down the street in a shopping trolley which took us back to the days of our crazy youth. A sure sign that we have not grown up at all. We went on a tour of the local ale houses courtesy of one of the lads and didnt get back on the train home til late in the evening, or early in the morning - one or the other.

We look forward to returning for the 7's tournament in May although we're not expecting it to top the Wellington 7's, but we'll try our best.