Ireland vs. Pacific Islanders

The minister at my church invited me to come along with him to the international rugby match between Ireland and Pacific Islanders this afternoon. Never heard of the country "Pacific Islanders," you say? That's because it's not one. As far as I could tell, they were a collection of third-string PAC 10 linebackers thrown together hastily for the #3rd ranked Ireland team to demolish. Either that or a team put together from Togo, Fiji, and Tonga (whose King has been receiving Ted L. Nancy's mail again). Whoever they were, they didn't prove much competition for Ireland. Final score, Ireland 61 Islanders 17. And they were lucky to get their 17.

I have pictures:

This is the stadium before the game got started. There's a band on the field, and everyone sings along with them. According to the minister, they were singing "kind of a Republican song." No wonder everyone was getting into it so much. In fact, some fans tried to start the song back up a few times during the game. I think it's a little like their "Yea Alabama" with nationalistic overtones.

The Islanders (in white) came out and danced around a minute with a two mascots in loincloths. Ireland (in green) watched calmly. They knew how to make them quit dancing.


An action shot from the game.










This is called a scrum which is short for scrummage, a word that sounds even funnier than scrum. It's like a jump ball except a member of one of the teams gets to throw the ball into the huddle. Guess whose team usually gets the ball.