We like to watch it because it is a major
rugby event and we always hope to see some quality rugby. We`re Southern hemisphere fans and in fact we do not see that much cool stuff in the Northen one but this is a good reason to meet and have a beer. Some Arlechini met – not in the usual place, but one that has better beer and the glasses have less foam or none at all. We watched Ireland vs. Scotland and it seemed a decent game till Stuart Hogg dropped the ball across the try line. Arlechinii never think of that. They did it. I laugh about this…All this happend during all kind of rugby stories were told by the guys at the table. B. came with a friend who had some professional rugby stories. These and ours related to our past tours. Silly laughing. We`ve gotten also serious and thought about the future: what could we do to get the best out of the situation we`re in. Only B. (another B.) was shouting in my ear „go boys! go boys!” for every ball carrying, short, in the same way as I was shouting to my horse – Johnny – during the rides along with the wind in the Căpățânii mountains.
Although the game was good, for sure the second most watched game that weekend, it wasn`t that good as our discussions. There are moments when you realize that all those statistics and recommendations about a happy life are true: you must have close and healthy relationships with others.
Then we left and realized we have to eat. We got into a bar serving only shots. Never regretted it. I was feeling that I got pretty “active” but not all the conditions for a sleepless night were met and the fact that the next day was the last training day, an important one, during which I did not want to throw out, made me stay chill. In fact we all left home well. Especially knowing you got a new girlfriend or got even engaged… I was still unsure about what to do because I left on foot and at a crossroad waiting for the green light, I was almost dancing like Napoleon Dynamite. I chilled completely home with water.
Next day I was surprisingly fresh. No need for the alarm, nor tired. One of the thoughts I went to the training was to practice kicking a bit. The Scots made M. know that they would have a good kicker and they want to use this. You never know what this means before a game but I think it is good to have multiple capabilities even if M. doesn`t let us kick. It is indeed not that easy as in football. I realized I could benefit from this. T. showed us too many times that he kicks like Prunea in `94 and B.F. is too foreseeable when looking his still swollen eyes since 30 years ago when he played fly half. Now he`s hooker, so… M.`s bit stops him from kicking but he still abuses the fake pass. I took the tee but at the training ground, being one designed for football, there was no possible target. Not even some kind of pillar surrounded by some mesh in order to avoid getting over the fence for the balls. Fortunately, a try has more points than a penalty kick, drop goal or conversion (but not more than any two of those…) so that having more than one point than them at the end of the game should be a (well known) functional philosophy even if it was thought by some Romanian football players. Unfortunately, or fortunately – depending on who you ask – winning was not more important than enjoying the moment, the process, the friendship with the guests and playing the best rugby we could. Given this, I guess that now when I`m writing this (before the game), we will kick like shit and we`ll use this to joke and get that bit more tight. I`ll get back on this.
