England vs Italy – A Visit to Twickenham

England vs Italy. Bound to be a triumphant rugby victory in England’s quest for the Grand Slam. And, fortunately, 8 of us were there to cheer them on from the north stand at Twickenham!
A chance email from an old school contact led to eight superbly placed tickets at Twickenham on Sunday. Elli, Ed, Mel, Jac, Nick, Tim, Michelle and I met at Clapham Junction at 11am. Well, that was the plan – in reality, Nick and Tim decided that few drinks were in order the previous night, and barely managed to arrive before we’d left the Slug And Lettuce pub at 1.30pm. Still, spirits were high – we had flags and rugby shirts on, and Mel had painted St George flags on everybody’s cheeks, and amusingly the word “prick” on Jac’s forehead. Nick went the whole hog and had his entire face painted with a the flag – sadly, he looked less like a flag, more like a hot cross bun. We were such a sight that a camerawoman working for the Metro newspaper took pictures of some of us, rightly judging that the rest of the group’s facial features might have cracked the lens.
After I had bought the obligatory stupid hat, we arrived at the stadium at 2.45, and at 3pm England kicked off. The first 20 minutes went to form – England scored 33 points in 22 minutes. But then they obviously thought it wasn’t really worth it – for another hour not a single point was scored. To cheer up the deflated group, Jac suggested a betting game. It went roughly like this:
Wibbler: “I bet one English pound that the next penalty with go to England.”
Jac: “Ok.”
Next penalty kick goes to England.
Wibbler: “That’ll be one round pound please.”
It was a suggestion that Jac was soon to regret. After 30 minutes, he was six pounds down, and with nothing left but a couple of guitar picks, he gave in.
All in all, a very good day, and a great experience. The game wasn’t the best, but the male streaker certainly warmed the hearts for the girls present. Thanks to everyone who came – even Simon B turned up on the East stand. Which was nice.