Rugby Sevens
Sunday morning was much the same, we made it to the park first this time, and after getting the same seats from the day before we went to get some merchandise. I had purchased a USA shirt on Saturday and was sporting it, but I lacked a hat. Saturday I just wore a springbok hat, but that simply wouldn’t do with the USA shirt. So $20 later I had a USA Sevens hat.
Sunday was all bracket play, based on how the teams had done on Saturday. Below bracket for the Cup as it started on Sunday morning.
The weather Sunday wasn’t as good as the day before. The sky was overcast and there was a good enough chance of rain that the boom camera had a plastic bag protecting it. Luckily the weather held with nothing more than a gloomy overcast and a bone chilling breeze. We ended up moving over a few sections to get away from the large boom camera, so I had a better angle for pictures, and wasn’t as enthusiastic about moving around in the cold. I also tried to pay more attention to the rules of the game and how things played out but I didn’t keep much track of scores or anything like that for any games except the cup semifinals.
The only way that South Africa and USA were going to meet again was for the Cup final so I was kind of hoping that would happen. It would make for a really exciting day. Both teams made it past the first semi-finals round without much trouble. The second round South Africa was up first, against England and while at the end of the first half it looked like they would have the game, they made a few mistakes in their play and gave the game to England. We met a nice English guy who sat in front of us who was kind enough to gloat.
USA vs Argentina was up next and at this point all the South Africans I was with switched to USA mode. Argentina came out first if I remember right but USA had them by a few points near the end of the game. But with only about a minute to go, Argentina scored a try and wasted all but the last few seconds of the game with their conversion kick and return kick. Their return kick went out of bounds with a second or so left on the clock, but the sideline official didn’t get his flag up until after the horn sounded, so the main official nearly immediately ended the game. It wasn’t how I wanted to see the USA team go out, to what I consider a bad call. The USA team never got a chance for one last try that they deserved.
In the end Argentina went on to win the Cup and everybody celebrated with them. We didn’t linger long at the stadium and decided we wanted something to eat. So Kerry, Candice, Liz, Mark and I headed out to a California Pizza Kitchen in La Jolla. Each of us ordered our own pizza and we were all hungry enough that not a single slice remained on the table when we left.
It was again not all that late by the time we got to the hotel, but its amazing how tired you can get after sitting out all day cheering for your favorite teams. I sat down and started to compose this post, but an unfortunate combination of beer, nachos, and pizza made for a disgruntled stomach and I had to lay down, eventually I fell asleep with no more than a few paragraphs written.
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