Somebody Pinch me!

Did that really happen? Was I dreaming? NO! Ireland 15-6 Australia

I have to say that I really did think that we had it in us to beat Australia but to be at Eden Park and watch the performance live in front of me, I did not think that we would dominate them as much as we did.

The performance aside it was a fantastic weekend in Auckland! Just walking around the city you could see the amount of Irish support that was about, there were Irish fans from New Zealand, Australia, all around the world and of course our own island, it made for a great scene. I do not think that I could have escaped a green jersey if I wanted to.

We decided to walk to the game along the “Fan Trail” which was about 4 KM long with entertainment and bars along the way, I have to admit though after a heavy Friday night the bars were the last thing on my mind but the craic that was had by everyone when we stopped was great. Nearing the ground the weather set in and we were worried that it would be a wet old Saturday night but thankfully for all it blew over as the sunset.

As Eden Park filled up it seemed that the Irish were out numbered by the Aussie fans which I did have to admit I expected but as I wrapped up against the cold I never noticed the green support slipping into the ground but as the atmosphere built so did the sea of green. I have not had the chance yet to get to the new Lansdowne Road but I would expect that when I do I might be a little disappointed as Saturday night was indeed a massive “home” game for Ireland.

Nothing could burst my bubble after the game, my hang-over had gone and I was on a massive adrenaline high, the stadium was awash with green and the singing would have lifted the roof, if indeed Eden Park had a roof.

This was what the Rugby World Cup is all about, this is why I decided to come to New Zealand!

There were three words said by everyone after the game, can you guess what they were? It was simple, “I was there!”

If the rest of the tournament is as good as that one game, well, we are all in for a treat.

COME ON IRELAND!l

And so it Begins!

And so it begins!

Well I made it safe and sound to New Zealand after what could only be called a very long and tiring flight where no sleep was taken (well maybe a couple of hours!).

Landing in New Plymouth we could see that the small town was very excited to be hosting the World Cup with nearly all the shops having Ireland, USA, Russia or Wales flags and colors in their windows and this only helped with getting us over the jet lag which I was determined not to suffer from!

As the “handles” of Tui's followed at the hotel with the rest of the tour party the decision was made to stick around to watch the England Argentina game. It was a tough old game to watch, one because we all wanted to see Argentina win and secondly because the beer was not helping with the tiredness, but we made it and the jet lag was over come!

After the excitement of landing day came game day and with the fact that the hotel across from ours was the Ireland team hotel, where just the day before we watched as some of the boys come and go on some hired bikes everyone was in a very excited mood!

Making our way to the ground by private bus rather than walking we got there I plenty of time before the gates opened and so when they did it was straight to the bar where the (very expensive) beer was flowing. With the wind and rain coming and going we knew that it was going to be a night when the elements could cause a few problems for both teams but hoping that Ireland having the experience of them we did not worry to much.

Taking my seat on the try line I got settled down with my four pack and a few “Ireland” supporters around me. This is when the World Cup started for me truly. There were Maori's and other New Zelanders in Ireland tops as well as USA and other Ireland fans, the banter was good and the game was under way, that was until just a few minutes in when the chanting started!

I have no problems with soccer fans supporting rugby teams, the more the better I say when it comes to supporting ones home country in the Rugby World Cup but when you try and turn it into a soccer game, give up and go home I say! There was no need for the Ole chants to start just after kick off, I see no problem with the good old chant of “Ireland, Ireland, Ireland!” and with the beginning of a “Mexican” wave after only around a couple of minutes after kick off I was starting to doubt some of the other “Ireland” fans were really supposed to be there.

The game itself was very badly affect by the weather as expected but I, and the rest of my tour party, did not think that this could be used to help justify the performance. Ireland looked very lacklustre and at times they seemed to let the pressure of getting the win get to them. We all knew that the win was a must and I was hoping that I would witness a complete Ireland domination which would include scoring enough try's to get the bonus point and help to boost the teams confidence but unfortunately it was not to come.

Now I have moved onto our second hotel and the build up to the Australia game has begun I have forgotten about the USA game and am now trying to build am image of how the game will play out in Auckland with what I think a team of; Keaney, Bowe, Trimble, O'Driscoll, Darcy, O'Gara, Reddan, Court, Best, Ross, O'Connell, O'Canahal, Ferris, Heslip and O'Brien will start.

Now, until Auckland!

One week till D-Day!

As the teams start to arrive in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup kicking off on the 9th I am starting to think about my own trip down to the land of the long white cloud and the surprises that it has in store for me and J.

With Ireland's performances in the warm-up games a bit below power to say the least you would probably forgive me in saying that on Saturday evening my thoughts started leaning towards how I was going to come back from the World Cup and face my mates questioning and mocking me about why for the second successive tournament Ireland were knocked out at the group stages. This is not unrealistic when you consider that we have the Tri-Nations champions Australia in our group along with an Italy team that run us very close in the 6 Nations and if we get beat by these two teams then we would find it very difficult to progress out of the pool!

With all this in mind I spent Saturday night in the company of good friends with very little talk of the game which had taken place earlier that day and this I think was a good thing. I woke on Sunday a bit bleary-eyed and proceed to read the match reports and watch the interviews from Saturdays game and, to me anyway, it seemed that just like the rest of us the media, the management and the team itself were a bit taken aback by what had happened. Is this the same group of players who in March completely out classed the same team, England, in the same stadium? The answer quite simply is yes, and that is why we were all so shocked.

As the day progressed I started to get a few texts from J asking if I had received the parcel he had sent to me with my World Cup goodies in it, I hadn't at this stage so my excitement began to go up a bit thinking about the "kit" that was about to arrive along with e-tickets, full tour schedule etc. To be honest, I was starting to feel, in my head at least, a bit like one the 30 guys selected to play for Ireland in the World Cup it self.

Monday morning arrived and I nipped downstairs to the concierge to see if they were there to pick up my stuff and to my delight they were! I rushed back up to my apartment and ripped into the box to revel the goodies inside. There was a t-shirt, a polo shirt, a fleece, waterproof coat and a beanie hat, all with the official Rugby World Cup branding on them inside a neat little kit bag. All the kit was matching and seeing it all laid out on my sofa I could help but think that I was part of a team!

The team I am part of has a massive part to play, just like the Ireland back-room staff look after the players every needs helping them focus solely on the game at hand. I am part of the Ireland travelling support, people from all over the country (and in my case London) coming together to make the trip to the other side of the world to cheer on our team. When Ireland step out on to the pitches in New Plymouth, Auckland, Rotorua and Dunedin it will be our job to make sure that each of those stadiums becomes an Ireland home game! We are there to represent out country as people as well and even though we have come off the back of a few bad results we can just take a look at the positivity shown by the players as something to lift us!

A lot has happened to me in the past week and in another weeks time I will have reached D-Day and along with a few others will be heading to Heathrow airport were I will meet my travelling companions each of us making the trip for their own reasons but all with the one goal in mind, to make sure our boys in green get the best damn support that any travelling Ireland team have had anywhere!

COME ON IREALND!