Rugby

Well Rugby arrived in Melbourne with a bang this weekend. The Bledisloe Cup – Australia versus New Zealand, played to about 90,000 people last night at the MCG. And all served by three pie sellers, which I thought was impressive. Actually it’s just as well the roving sellers don’t sell beer too. At least people have to be able to walk up to buy the beer, probably preventing anyone who has already drunk enough from getting more.

And watching the big game last night on the telly, I must admit I felt a lump in the throat as the Wallabies ran onto the arena. They stood respectfully as the All Blacks did their terrific haka. But hey, the Australians pretended to sing along to their national anthem much better than the New Zealanders did.

The Wallabies were primed. They were ready. Although there were plenty of New Zealanders in the crowd, it must have been a huge boost to our national Australian team to be playing at home. And so as play began, we all knew that our team would be as prepared as they could be to meet the challenge of the Kiwis. We knew that if New Zealand were to stand any chance of beating us, they faced an uphill battle.

They beat the shit out of us.

Ah well, maybe next year.

One thing that appeared to be missing from the rugby circus was the normally ever-present Whitman’s Blimp. Probably not a good idea for it to be flying around in the vicinity of fireworks, it might end up flying all over the place like a balloon deflating. Ah, it just clicked, Cadbury/Schweppes is a major sponsor of the rugby .

But the blimp was around on Sunday, following me about as usual. It passed by this morning near the Botanical Gardens, and flew over our house early tonight. This specifically targeted advertising still isn’t quite working though. Yes, I’m nibbling chocolate. But it’s Cadbury. Face it folks – their ads are cooler.