Present: once more in Sugar. The hardcore of the group is Richard, Vero, Mercedes, Elisa and myself, with a strong cameo from the two Maxes before the night caught up with them.
Pre-match expectations: I haven’t seen a live game of rugby since last week, as all other games have not been on normal tv. I’ve seen the matches, sure, because they’re all shown at 9 am before I’m out of bed/can check on the scores. But live rugby has been elusive. Last time I was in Sugar I was basically by myself. This time we have a growing contingent, which is promising in itself at 3 am.
Predictions: Argentina put 43 past these chaps last week. I’m looking for England to break the 60 points mark.
Game: the English Max (sidenote: both the Maxes are blond and good-looking, so we lost the attention of all the females ‘watching’ the game with us the minute they walked in) has decided to enforce international drinking rules on Richard and myself, which means endless pints of Quilmes being consumed in fits and starts. Two fingers for a swearword, four fingers for a try by us, etc. Dangerous precedent but makes for interesting viewing.
Half-time status: We also have no commentary, which means that we get to see Mark Cueto’s three first-half tries to the tune of “Eye of the Tiger”, “Like a Virgin” and other such wonders. The rapid embibing and cheesy pop soundtrack slightly undermines the all-powerful might of watching England totally steamroller the Romanians in the first half. England go in at the break up 34-3.
Full-time status: the tally-ho drinking habits of Max the Brit saw him drink himself into several smashed glasses, some warnings from the bouncers and an early exit as he admitted self-defeat. The other Max couldn´t speak by this stage, I have no idea what had happened to him. Sugar had almost entirely emptied by the 60th minute, but we still had the cheesy pop-rock, with longer songs being played every time the DJ needed to “take a break.” At one point this was Baba O’Reilly, a glorious tune to see England wiping the floor/field with the Romanians and run off the pitch as 67-3 winners.
Man of the match: Mark Cueto, whose first international try in fifteen months turned into a sublime hat-trick in eleven minutes.
‘Food’: a brace of Coronas, several pints, some Jager Bombs.
Conversation keywords: the build-up involved a subtitled documentary about England’s road to glory in 2003, which dominated much of conversation. I’d like to say that we talked about more, but I just can’t recall.
Comments: trying to stay awake for the New Zealand v France extrvaganza was one rugby match too far. Damned international time zones.
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