This past weekend I had what might be the best moment yet since coming to South Korea. As you know, I have quite a few expat friends here. However, what you may not have realized is that many of these folks are South Africans and New Zealanders ("kiwis"). Upon first meeting these folks at orientation I noticed something right away: the steady stream of rugby trash talking.
Being a newcomer to rugby this was a bit over my head. But then, two weeks ago I watched my first game at a friend's house. It was just playing in the background, but I found myself getting sucked in. Imagine American Football without padding and without all the pauses to reset plays, remark the 10 yard line, and penalize players. Rugby is essentially fast playing football with very basic rules for keeping the ball in play:
1) Players can kick or run the ball forward
2) Players can only pass backward to teammates
3) When in a dog pile, players must work together to get the ball passed back to restart the forward motion
4) Repeat!
Now imagine my delight being in the thick of Rugby warfare (i.e. The 2011 Rugby World Cup) this past weekend. The finals placed New Zealand's All Blacks against Frances's Blues. So, what could we do, but go to Seoul and watch it with other Kiwi loving Expats! And that's just what we did. We grabbed a high top at Scrooges Pub three hours before the match started to ensure that we had seats. And my (oh my) did the pub fill...going to the restroom was death defying!
The final was remarkably low scoring, however we were not a quiet crowd. Chanting for our teams and jeering at our rivals kept everyone's adrenaline up. I was hooked from the very start by New Zealand's opening Haka...
...all the way to those last seconds.
Go All Blacks!
-Bets
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