South African Springboks

Yesterday, I experienced my first live rugby game. It was phenomenal. First off, rugby is easy to watch. There really aren’t so many rules or strategies that you can’t follow the game on your first try. Secondly, South Africa is a particularly good place to start a fascination with rugby, for two reasons. One, they are damn good. They won the Rugby World Cup last year and have a long history of having a strong team. Two, (please forgive me, but it’s so true) the South African Rugby team is the most attractive group of men in one place I’ve ever seen. Really. They kept me focused on the game rather than talking through the whole thing. Those of you who know me well can appreciate this.

I’m certainly not going to bother giving a play-by-play of the whole game, but the highlights are:

1. We beat Italy 26-0. Woo Hoo!

2. There was a player nicknamed “The Beast” and when he scored, everyone yelled, “BEEEEAAAST!” Sanford now runs around the house doing this…

3. We watched most of the game in the pouring rain. Not a light drizzle—hard, heavy, cold rain. Thank god for L.L. Bean. My vital organs stayed plenty dry and I really wasn’t all that cold. However, my jeans were completely drenched and denim gets heavy when it’s wet!

4. We saw a guy get Knocked Out Cold. The other players were coming after him and we saw his head snap back. I was seriously worried he was dead. Sanford is going to assault me for saying this, but American football really does look like a bunch of wimps out there with all of that padding after seeing this. Also having said that, I will not have a son that participates in either sport. Period. I thought the guy was dead.

5. We met two very nice gentlemen from South Africa who taught us a lot about the history of the sport in South Africa and the personalities of the players. It was a very nice chat, and I am reminded so much of the motto of the Fulbright program: The best way to destroy prejudice and stereotypes is to be a positive ambassador from your home country. I feel safe is saying that we have been good ambassadors for the USA, in spite of our current leadership.

I guess that wraps it about up!

Always,

Sarah