This is starting to get a bit rugby dominated but, hey ho, we are in Rugbyland after all. Sue and I had a mad day on Saturday when we finally got to see the All Blacks. We took our first train since England into Johnsonville for a pre-match house barbeque at one of Sue’s workmates. We also had our first taste of green-lipped mussels - apparently unique to NZ - which (fussy) Sue did very well not to spit in the chef’s face, bless her. She coped much better with the beer. The atmosphere at the match was excellent even if (perhaps being slightly biased) I felt that there’s more passion and noise at a Premiership match. The French rolling over didn’t exactly help fire the crowd. Definitely worth the outrageous cost of the tickets.

We left five minutes early - shame on us, but otherwise we’d never have made it to the pub - to watch the Lions. With more beer, a largely pro-Lions Kiwi/British crowd watched Britain (and Eire) beat them lot across the Tasman. World champions, my arse! Waking up on Sunday morning, we both realised exactly how much we’d enjoyed ourselves. I’m sure our hangover recovery time is getting worse since we left uni…

Final notes - well done and congratulations to all those finalists back home who are getting their results and… where’s your captain now, Scummers?!