Pfitzy
Nathan Sharpe (72)
I got hold of a game between Georgia and Argentina 'A' and from the looks of it, a fair old crowd turned out in what I assume is the Georgian capital, Tblisi (commentary is in Georgian - which is only spoken basically by Georgians). The Georgians took a try off a 5m driving maul and the place went nuts.
I might have told this story before, but it took me back to RWC2003 where I attended the Georgia v Boks match. The Lelos (Georgia's team name) had spent the first weeks of the tournament in Perth, copping a bit of a pounding from Samoa and an outright thrashing from England. Some of the locals had taken them under their wings, and there were pictures of the players dancing with local girls at a rugby club and no doubt some fairly hefty quantities of alcohol consumed.
I remember things about the game - Schalk Burger as a very young chap (shaved head); the Boks playing largely within themselves but looking a bit tepid. However, almost the entire crowd was backing the underdogs, and even some Bok supporters cheered them on (a very few mealy-mouthed pissants in the crowd weren't - no prizes for guessing what shirts they were wearing).
In any case, it was a reasonable game with the faster and bigger professionals giving the T14 part-timers a fair going over. Just after the Boks infringed near their own line again, there was a yellow card. The Lelos sniffed a chance and on the back of some urging from the crowd, after a few barges their hooker got over the line for their first ever try in RWC history. The place went batshit crazy with cheering from the largely neutral crowd. The little Georgian halfback ran back down the sideline urging the crowd on, flapping his arms like he'd just been caught in a Jessica AtoB sandwich (Alba to Biel) and couldn't find words enough to express it. I swear the little bloke almost shed a tear.
I think there was only 28K or so in the SFS that night but it felt like more than a packed-out homebush for Bledisloe 2000. Looking at the guys playing their hearts out in their country's first showing on the World Stage put a smile on my face you couldn't kill with a stick. Just thinking about that moment gives me goosebumps, and shit I wish I'd taken my video camera to that game.
I have never experienced anything like it at a rugby ground, and I don't think I will again.
So what's your personal favourite. And I don't want "this one or that one" - I want the one that makes you feel the same way now as it did then. Can be you in the crowd, you scoring the winning try in the U8s grand final, whatever. Let's just sit back and celebrate rugby for all the right reasons while the shit flies about team selections, referees, and Paddy O'Brien being a dilapidated knob-jockey.
I might have told this story before, but it took me back to RWC2003 where I attended the Georgia v Boks match. The Lelos (Georgia's team name) had spent the first weeks of the tournament in Perth, copping a bit of a pounding from Samoa and an outright thrashing from England. Some of the locals had taken them under their wings, and there were pictures of the players dancing with local girls at a rugby club and no doubt some fairly hefty quantities of alcohol consumed.
I remember things about the game - Schalk Burger as a very young chap (shaved head); the Boks playing largely within themselves but looking a bit tepid. However, almost the entire crowd was backing the underdogs, and even some Bok supporters cheered them on (a very few mealy-mouthed pissants in the crowd weren't - no prizes for guessing what shirts they were wearing).
In any case, it was a reasonable game with the faster and bigger professionals giving the T14 part-timers a fair going over. Just after the Boks infringed near their own line again, there was a yellow card. The Lelos sniffed a chance and on the back of some urging from the crowd, after a few barges their hooker got over the line for their first ever try in RWC history. The place went batshit crazy with cheering from the largely neutral crowd. The little Georgian halfback ran back down the sideline urging the crowd on, flapping his arms like he'd just been caught in a Jessica AtoB sandwich (Alba to Biel) and couldn't find words enough to express it. I swear the little bloke almost shed a tear.
I think there was only 28K or so in the SFS that night but it felt like more than a packed-out homebush for Bledisloe 2000. Looking at the guys playing their hearts out in their country's first showing on the World Stage put a smile on my face you couldn't kill with a stick. Just thinking about that moment gives me goosebumps, and shit I wish I'd taken my video camera to that game.
I have never experienced anything like it at a rugby ground, and I don't think I will again.
So what's your personal favourite. And I don't want "this one or that one" - I want the one that makes you feel the same way now as it did then. Can be you in the crowd, you scoring the winning try in the U8s grand final, whatever. Let's just sit back and celebrate rugby for all the right reasons while the shit flies about team selections, referees, and Paddy O'Brien being a dilapidated knob-jockey.
