When the King & I decided to go Down Under, we wanted to see
more than just baseball there, sports wise that is. We also wanted to
see a sport that was popular in Australia. They have Australian rules football & a few different kinds of rugby. We wound up going to a
Super Rugby fixture. It's also known as Rugby Union. There's another kind
that's called Rugby League. When I looked at the schedule this match was
the best fit for us. In addition, the King told me he preferred to see
that over footy if you will. He didn't realize how popular footy was in
Melbourne. Since I didn't realize that they had nine AFL teams in
Melbourne, I didn't know there was a game when we were going to be
there. I was informed the week before by Paul Tyson who we met at the
Light Brigade before game one of the MLB Opening Series at the Sydney
Cricket Ground. Paul & his wife Sue came from Melbourne where they
live to see the baseball game. He told us we need to see footy.
However,
we decided to stick with our original plan of going to the rugby match.
When I was planning out the trip, I got in touch with a young man named
Xavier Player who lives in Melbourne & he's a ballpark chaser too.
He told me he's a member of the Melbourne Rebels. They were home against
the Brumbies of Canberra which is the capital of Australia. I told him I
plan to meet him when I go there. As it got closer, we arranged to met
up. As it turned out, he wound up meeting the King & I at Young & Jackson Pub by Federation Square. When I was there I got in
contact with him thanks to Ken Liu who had service on his phone. He
wrote Xavier & he told him where were sitting. Shortly after 6PM,
Xavier showed up with his Rebel hoodie & scarf on. We all
introduced ourselves. He lead the way once we left the Pub. We took a
short walk over to AAMI Park where the Rebels play their home matches.
Ken decided to join us. He wanted his lady friend Nat to go but she
decided not to. Ken was willing to pay her way. She was concerned about
getting home on her own. With that being said, we said goodbye to her
& we went on our way to the match.
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| Outside of AAMI Park |
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| AAMI Park |
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| Melbourne Rebels & Brumbies |
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| AAMI Park - home of Rugby League, Rugby Union & Football |
I'm
glad we met Xavier because he was very knowledgeable about the sport of
rugby. To be perfectly honest, I only read up briefly about it online.
When we arrived at the stadium, we went to the box office & we
purchased tickets for the game. We wound up going inside & we sat
with Xavier who likes to sit in the end zone.
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| My ticket for the match |
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| View from where we sat at the fixture |
It
turned out to be a different experience for us. As the match went on,
Xavier explained the rules to us. The match was comprised of two forty
minute halves which like soccer are running time. With that being said, the match would last around two hours.
As
for the match we saw, the Rebels got off to a slow start. They fell
behind, 7-0 as the Brumbies got a try which is worth five points & a
conversion which is good for two more points. The Rebels broke the
shutout with a penalty goal which is worth three points to make it a 7-3
score. The Brumbies added a penalty goal of their own to go up, 10-3.
The Rebels closed the gap again by adding another penalty goal to make
it 10-6 at halftime. The Brumbies extended their lead to 17-6 early in
the second half. All of a sudden, the Rebels roared back. They wound up
of scoring 23 unanswered points as Jason Woodward was a one man show as
he was responsible for majority of their points. He scored on six
penalty goals, he also had a try & two conversions as the Rebels
held off the the Brumbies, 32-24. It was a great comeback for the home
team who look sluggish for the first 50 minutes of the match. As the
saying goes, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. The Rebels who
haven't played well accordingly to Xavier in previous games decided to
wake up in the second half to emerge victorious. It was fun to be part
of the celebration which culminated with the Rebels fight song after the
match.
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| Live action opposite end from us |
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| Live action right in front of us |
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| Aftermath of a scrum |
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| Rebels win, 32-24! |
Afterwards,
we all walked back to Federation Square together. When we got there, we
said goodbye & we all thanked Xavier for joining us & being
such a good host & teacher. I hope our paths cross somewhere down
the road. In the meantime, Xavier is going to graduate school in hopes
of landing a decent paying job so he can pursue his dreams in life. I
want to wish him only the very best.
As
for the King, Ken & I we walked around with Ken who knew the area
better than us since he was there for a few days. He wound up taking us
to a tram that wound up getting within a few blocks from our motel in
St. Kilda.
When
we finally got to the motel, we got our bags that were in the room we
left them in earlier in the day. We checked in & we got the keys to
the room. We proceeded to go to the room so we could get some sleep. We
didn't get a whole lot because we had to get the Airport Bus back to the
Airport so we could catch our flight eventually back home.
Stay tuned for a special post that will wrap up this memorable journey.
Thank you for reading & following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
