rugby world cup fever

the rugby world cup is only days away. the AB boys are in marseille - they received a mayoral reception when they arrived on monday. the french love the ABs :)

i am so excited about it. my coworkers know it too :) they wondered why and how i became a rugby-mad girl.

my story? i've always loved sports. i grew up watching tennis (the french open, wimbledon) with my dad, and staying up at night with my grandpa drooling over the skills of AC Milan players (of one Marco Van Basten, especially)and rooting for Holland in the international matches.

love of sports continued since going to college in the States (Indiana U. to be precise - Go Hoosiers!) to include basketball, baseball, and (american) football. then in october 2003, i went to new zealand. i had no idea that there was a major rugby tournament happening across the tasman until i got there and got myself a few all blacks stuff but still knew zilch about rugby. once back in the states, i chatted with my irish friend and he started my interest in the game. he talked irish rugby, six nations, and all that. but without watching a single game yet, i was only a little bit interested - like i was with golf :)
then i moved to singapore in 2005. one weekend i turned on ESPN and there was the All Blacks playing against the British and Irish Lions in the first test of the tour. and the rest, they say, is history. i was hooked, to the Blacks and Richie McCaw.

two years on, i watched almost every test match the AB played, followed two seasons so far of the Super14 on Australian Network, and i went to a couple of Air NZ Cup matches when working in NZ for a month last month: Auckland v. Waikato at Eden Park and Canterbury v. Wellington at Jade Stadium (newly named AMI Stadium) - awesome. and now i am estatically waiting for the start of the tournament this friday.

oh yeah, i also found a bunch of girls from all over the world (france, england, the US, south africa, australia, and new zealand among others) who love the ABs and Richie McCaw from the Richie blog. it really makes rugby much more fun.