Good Game!

Yesturday (Saturday) I had a brand new experience. I went to a live rugby match for the first time in my life. Not just any rugby match though, arguably one of the biggest matches in the sport. I went along to watch the contest between Wales and England in the 6 Nations, at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium, and what a match it was!
My uncle had managed to get hold of a pair of tickets, perfectly legitimately, I hasten to add and, very kindly invited me along. Now I consider myself to be English, having been born in England, to English parents. My uncle though, having a very proud Welsh father, was brought up supporting Wales, something which he continues to do. Needless to say then that our tickets were for one of the many areas of the stadium, in which the Welsh fans were situated. Being used to football crowds, I had 1 or 2 slight reservations about this, but came to the conclusion that if I just kept quiet, things would be fine. A tactic, incidentally, that I tend to employ rather a lot, with varying degrees of success.
We decided to go by train, as it goes direct to Cardiff from where we live and Cardiff station is a very short walk from the stadium. So at around 2:30, we boarded the train and our journey began, full of excitement and anticipation. We whiled away the hour and a half or so, with discussion of both teams chances and what the game would be like.
At around 4, we stepped off the train and followed the hauds of people towards the Millenium Stadium, the excitement growing with every step closer to the turnstyles. Before we knew it we were inside, looking for our seats.
This was my first visit to Cardiff's showcase sporting arena and all I can say is... WOW! What a venue it is. It's huge, as you can probably imagine, it would have to be to house around 75000 people, but somehow, it doesn't feel like it. It still manages to capture that close, almost intimate feeling that so many stadiums lack these days. Despite this, you still know that you are at a big venue, for a big event. It is also impeckably run, amazingly clean, with a team of extremely helpful stewards to help you find your seat. This is just my opinion of course, but I really don't know why they bothered building a new Wembley Stadium, when this place seemed to serve the football world incredibly well whenever it was needed. I may well be biassed, as I live around 75 miles closer to central Cardiff than I do to north London. But that's a debate that could rage on and on.
Anyway, we spent the next hour just taking in our magnificent surroundings until, before we knew it, it was time for the teams to take the field. I quietly sang God Save The Queen, and stood in awe as the people around me belted out Land Of My Fathers. Then it was time for the match to kick off.
For the first 15-20 minutes, it looked as though both teams were picking up where they had left off the previous weed, Wales looking far superior while England gave away penalty after penalty. Before you knew it, Wales were 9-0 in front. Then, from nowhere, with 14 men on the field, England scored a try! I was as surprised as those sat all around me. Then we scored a drop goal, bringing the score to 9-8, which is how it stayed for the rest of the half. The second half started as the first had, with England giving away yet more penalties and having another player sin binned. Wales took advantage and racked up more points, their class was showing now. They broke through and scored a try of their own, taking their total to 20. I started to wonder how many more points they would score against us when, England scored another try, converting it, to take them to within 5 points, it was 20-15, game on! The next few minutes were frantic, with both sides desperate for more points. Eventually, England's indiscipline let them down, giving away another penalty, gifting Wales 3 points in the process. That was pretty much the last meaningful act, except for England to miss a penalty of their own, ending the chance of a nail-biting finish in the process. The final whistle sounded, with Wales winning the game 23 points to 15. We made our way back through the crowds and onto the train to go home. We spent the journey home analysing the game we had just watched, both of us happy with our own team's performance. What a great day it had been!