Rugby

On Saturday night, I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the Australia Wallabies take on the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby. It was an amazing game, with a huge stadium packed with over 80,000 screaming Aussies and Kiwis. At the start of the game, the national anthems of New Zealand and Australia were sung (or shouted) at the top of the spectators lungs. Then, the All Blacks lined up facing the Wallabies and performed the Haka, a traditional Maori war dance. After that it was time to play.

While I didn't (and still don't) really understand all the rules (at one point a penalty was called for "entering the ruck from the side"), I could understand enough to see that it was a close (and very intense) game. New Zealand scored first, but the Wallabies rallied and were able to take and hold the lead for the majority of the game. With two minutes to go, however, the All Blacks scored a penalty kick and then managed to (barely) hold of a final Aussie drive to win the game by one point.

All in all, it was a great experience, sitting in the stands packed with fans of both teams, all mixed together, all laughing and joking about the penalties that were (or in some cases, were not) called, and trying to shout over eachother with cheers of "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy!" and "All Blacks!"

Olympic Park, home to ANZ Stadium

A national anthem is a thing best sung by thousands, at the top of their lungs

The All Blacks perform the Haka

The stands were a sea of Aussie yellow and Kiwi black