Editorial»
A perfect Saturday
NOV 29 - England Vs Australia in the Rugby World Cup finals! As one of the pre-match banners on display had suggested - it was the mother of all finals.
I, along with two other friends of mine, had gone to The Irish Pub at Thamel to watch the match. And believe me, it was an incredible experience; thanks largely to the kicking habits of both Elton Flatley and Johnny Wilkinson as well as near deafening milieu inside the pub.
Two of us were huge English fans while the other friend was hooting for Wallabies. We had planned the whole escapade from a long time back and were overtly excited and geared up for 80 minutes of exhilarating play. We were extremely confident of the teams we supported and hadn’t given due thought to extra time play, in case the scores remained tied at the end of regular time.
Englishmen, with the likes of Johnny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson in their ranks were the pre-tournament favourites, while the Aussies, after thrashing the All Blacks in the semi-finals, were confident of upsetting the visitors in front of their raucous home fans.
The match was set to start at 2:45 P.M. However, by the time we entered the pub at around 2, almost all the seats were occupied. Hiding our disappointment, we took the few remaining seats in the last row. Except for two Nepali guys in front of us, the room was largely filled with tourists. And, expectedly, the crowd was pretty much partisan, hooting either for Johnny Wilkinson and Co. or the men from Down Under.
Pre-match analysis was underway and taking a clue from the media, English supporters discussed their team’s style of play with regard to whether their playing style was boring as suggested by certain section of the Aussie press.
By the time the match was scheduled to start, the Pub was filled with almost 100 people. Having no place to sit down, many were standing in the aisles with glasses of beer in hand. The scenes of commotion near the bar; the drinking spree; the impending match’s excitement - there was everything we could have asked for.
And, finally when the match started at the scheduled time, there was a huge cheer from the large gathering. Though the Aussies scored the first try of the match, the first half was, however, dominated by the Englishmen, with Johnny Wilkinson converting 3 penalties. By the end of the First Half, England was in control of the game with a comfortable lead of 14-8. Aussie fans were already dejected when the play reached half time, while the English supporters had already started to sing “We’re the champions of the world”.
However, the Second Half witnessed a complete turn of events. Wallabies came roaring back and levelled the score at 14 each, halfway through time out. However, when Johnny Wilkinson converted another penalty, and it seemed that England was going to win the match, Elton Flatley, Australia’s Fly-Half, helped his team bounce back when he converted a penalty just seconds before the final whistle.
Well, I was literally heart broken at that moment, and I guess, so was the English fans. However, the Aussie supporters, along with Prime Minister John Howard, were ecstatic. Now, well into extra time, and the scores level, Johnny Wilkinson scored that history making field goal. The result: the whole pub thundered with the cheer of English fans. It surely was one of the greatest sporting roller coaster rides and one, which no one can ever forget.Posted on: 2003-11-28 11:42
Headlines
Advertisements
