World Cup 2011 – Day 1

A quick update on the first day.

6.30am: First up, the four new debutantes for Ireland were presented with their official First Ireland caps.

The Four New Boys: Roelie Smit, Jim Gorman, me & Chris Doyle

Not sure if these are official issue…?

vs England:

I got great advice by email before going to bed last night from someone who once faced the All Blacks in rugby union.

‘Everything is going to happen at such speed you won’t realise what’s happening to you. You’ve got to be ready for it. Hit it from the start like a hurricane!’

And we did. I loved it from the first minute, felt so at home at this level.

Unfortunately, we gave away a try in the last play. We should have beaten England. Man, we should have beaten them. Most of the lads were delighted with our performance because they got hammered 9-0 or something by them last year in the Euros. I felt sick with disappointment. I kept looking around afterwards to try to catch one or two specific people’s eyes who I needed to talk to because I hoped/knew they were hurting as much as me.

4-3 loss

Spain

They were good but again we should have beaten them, small margins, really small. We were better than them. Again, you hold onto the pain for about an hour after, talk it through as a team, try to learn from it and then you have to begin to let go and gear up for the next game.

4-2 loss

Game 3 Australia

Australia are the Number 1 in the world by a distance. They invented the game. I’ve only been playing it for about 6 months. They are very, very good. They beat us well but again there was nothing that scary about them just so very clinical.

So now we’re into the Group B. Still lots to play for. We can still get back into the main competition. If we win that group and if not we go into the plate. Tomorrow we have Japan first and then a rematch against Spain. I can’t wait to have another go at them. Vamonos otra vez!

After a long exhausting day from 6am till last game at 4pm, and some tough lung-bursting defeats, you reward yourself by stripping down to your jocks and jumping into an ice bath. I love this life! 🙂

One positive, Bon Jovi playing in Edinburgh down the road tonight in Murrayfield stadium.

I thought we might be able to hear him from where we are. The positive thing – we can’t!

(Apologies to his devoted fans but I’m not one of you.)

Thanks for all the first day support and messages. Sorry we couldn’t give you some better results to cheer so far.