Wedding rivalry

The wings flexed and the body was jolted in every direction as we accelerated away from the runway and into the tail end of Storm Imogen. I could not complain as the Boeing 747-8 made it safely through the turbulence and headed south for warmer climes. The following morning I landed in drought ridden South Africa, it is amazing what difference a ten hour flight and just two time zones can make.

I am having slight deja vu. Last September I attended my first wedding abroad in Greece. It is not the foreign location that is so strikingly similar, more the international sporting situation. The Greek wedding between my Welsh friend and her English fiancé fell on the same evening as that disappointing rugby World Cup match when England lost to Wales. On the plus side it gave my friend her fairy tale day. I am now in South Africa for my English school friend’s wedding to his South African bride to be. The location has changed but this time the sport is cricket; the wedding party rivalry is still just as ripe.

Unlike the rugby World Cup the cricket lacks such a definite conclusion to this historical rivalry. England comfortably won the test down in the Southern Hemisphere back in January and went into the One Day Internationals looking strong. With an encouraging start they were one game ahead after three matches. I thought this would be the perfect occasion to break my cricket virginity and join the barmy army. Frustratingly I had to dash away before the extremely exciting fourth game concluded. With South Africa being so sports mad there was no shortage of bars showing the cricket, however I was in a smart restaurant for a pre wedding meal with the girls. I need not have worried as the result became sadly obvious as the sports bar opposite erupted with cheer, and it was not full of the barmy army.

Taking a battering

It has been a battering weekend for the Westcountry in both the weather and the sport.

I stupidly thought that we had left the worst of  the winter weather behind us after one of the wettest January’s on record,  how wrong I was. It was impossible to hide from the storms that battered all of the South West last weekend, the wind and rain were relentless for a second weekend in a row. The previous weekend I gave in and resorted to mountain biking, a form of exercise that is designed for such conditions, this weekend however I was determined to fight it. I headed out for an ambitious ride on my light carbon framed road bike, my mind set on proving the storms could not hamper my training any longer, sadly I lost. Two punctures later as I was starting to loose the feeling in my digits I admitted defeat and turned my back on the gusting wind, racing home to thaw out. Sunday I opted for the static spin bike, what a novelty it was to overheat whilst sitting on a bicycle.

The sun also refused to shine on Westcountry rugby as both Bath and Exeter lost at home in their respective matches. Last year’s Premiership finalists Bath have been struggling at the bottom of the table most of this season. They faced local rivals Gloucester, a team they had not lost to for several seasons. Yet frustratingly for them it was another nail in the coffin after an exciting Friday night derby saw Gloucester win the battle. Exeter Chiefs faced current Premiership leaders Saracens, with the first chance of the season to knock them off that top spot. Having not lost at home for a record thirteen months it was made all the more painful as they could not quite hold off the visitors in the second half, loosing just fourteen points to eleven.

It was not quite all doom and gloom though, thanks to an encouraging win for England rugby at the start of the Six Nations tournament.