The day started off well. We went to check out the Vulcan pub to see if it was still there. Thankfully one of Cardiff's oldest pubs will not be demolished to make way for a car park . We went down without tickets and the touts we trying to offload their tickets for one hundred quid. Much too much. On the way to the Cayo Arms this guy asked for directions to the Mocyhn Du pub. We showed him the way and he mentioned his sister had one spare. No good to us, we needed two. The Cayo Arms was jam packed and after a quick pint headed upto Canton for a drink in the Canton Hotel. On the way back into the city centre we popped into the Mocyhn Du and the guy we meet before spotted me and told me he had two spare tickets now, sitting together. What great luck. We purchased the tickets for the cost price of fifty five quid. They were lower tier tickets behind the posts. Not the best seat in the house but better than nothing.
The National Anthem was particularly powerful before the match. During the Haka the crowd chanted "Wales, Wales" and drowned out the All Black noises. And so to the match. The first half was a good old fashion arm wrestle and neither side really dominated. Dan Carter certainly tested Wales' back three but James Hook was equal to the test at full back. Both defences cancelled each other out and the Wales set piece seemed to be doing okay. Going into the second half it was 6-6. The third quarter of the game the All Blacks upped their intensity and from what looked like a fairly conservative move they scored in the corner through their hooker after some decent phase play. With 15 minutes to go the score was 9-19 and Wales managed to finally get some fruitful possession. Shane Williams made a telling break and off loaded to Martin Roberts who was entering the All Black 22 at pace, only for Carter to come out of nowhere with a move stopping tackle. The replay show a high tackle but the ref didn't spot it, and to be fair to the ref I don't think it was too apparent when it happened. Wales clawed back three points and with time running out a draw was the best possible result. Then out of nowhere Alun Wyn-Jones intercepted a pass deep in Wales' half and galloped towards the New Zealand try line. He was actually running directly towards the posts that we were behind. For him it must have seemed like a really long sprint but for us it was all over in a few seconds. And the briefest hopes of Wales' fans were dashed when the move broke down. It was almost a very exciting finish to a fairly average game.
New Zealand deserved to win, but I don't think either side played anywhere near their potential and in that respect it was a disappointing game.
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