Cardiff to Salisbury and the quarter finals

Saturday 6th October (Cardiff)

It is now the 22nd of October and only now, some 3 weeks later, are we able to continue with our diary. The 6th October 2007 was a day of great sorrow for all Kiwi’s and Australians and we have suffered a three week mourning period and have been unable to write about it.

The morning of the 6th started well with a good breakfast and high spirits, and a trip to town showed much festivity in the streets including footballs being kicked high in the main street. We caught the hop on hop off bus for a quick tour of Cardiff which is now a thriving tourist destination having gone thru some boom times in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s due to the coal exports and then suffered a major downturn in the 1950’s – 1980’s when the coal exports dropped to nearly nothing . A re-development of the port area and an upsurge in tourism means that now there is much development and the town looks prosperous again. After lunch we headed back to the Hotel (Park Inn) where we watched Australia get beaten by a very dogged English team 12-10. Not a good game but most of the Kiwis on the tour had little sympathy for our sole Wallaby supporter, Pam, as they figured NZ would rather play England in the semi’s rather than Australia. We had a beautiful dinner of lamb shanks and then off to the game to watch NZ v’s France. The game started well and at half time we were quietly confident. However a sense of anger and disbelief came over all the many Kiwi’s at the ground as the final whistle blew with the All Blacks being beaten in the quarter final when they were favourites to win the cup. No celebration just home to bed.

Sunday 7th October (Cardiff to Salisbury)

Today we left Cardiff at 9.30 after a major problem getting all the bags on the bus. The bereavement process continues as we go thru the steps.

- Why me (how could this happen to us).
- Anger (blame the coach, the players, the referee)
- Loss (don’t want to watch any more games)
- Acceptance (lets have a good holiday without the complication of any rugby).

We picked up a guide and headed to Bath for a quick stop. Interesting town with its Roman History and striking Georgian architecture . Headed to Salisbury where we checked in and went straight to the pub across the road to watch the next quarter final which was Fiji v’s South Africa. We all wanted Fiji to win and at 20 all it looked possible but South Africa ground them down and won 37-20. That’s three games I have picked wrong. Went to Salisbury Cathedral and had a look around to discover some Fullers were part of the history. Also had a look at the Magna Carta which is only one of four remaining copies and one of the best preserved. Interesting to look at the history and to realise it is the basis of much of today’s laws. Back to the hotel for drinks in the typical English courtyard and over to the pub to watch Scotland play Argentina and again we barracked for the losing team as Scotland got beaten 13-19 and again were in with a chance right to the end. 4 losing teams out of 4 games, lucky I am not a bookie.