Edyn's African Adventure

When I asked my cousin's daughter, Mackenzie, what she wanted to do while in South Africa, her only real request was a rugby match. I know next to nothing about the sport but I'm up for just about anything so I said I'd try to get it sorted. It has to be more exciting than cricket, right? I asked some folks from work and it turns out our company is a sponsor of the national rugby team, the Springboks, and we get free tickets. The gods must have been smiling on Kenz's trip because it turns out there are only 6 matches in South Africa this year, and one of them fell on one of the Saturday's Kenz was here. And better yet, it was a premier match-up with the England team and it was being played in the best (most rowdy and rugby-mad) stadium in SA--Loftus Park up in Pretoria! So we met my co-workers, Robyn, and Dorothy and their significant others, Andrew and Konrad, and off we went to Loftus.I have to say, I'm a convert. The game was good, but better yet, they have a huge beer tent right on the grounds set up for "tailgating" before the match, and partying after. Also there is an enormous sound stage with an Afrikaans singer performing. Definitely outta hand and a lot of fun! Turns out drunken sports revelry is very similar the world over! It was actually very cool for Kenz (and me!) to see and be part of that!Anyway, the match was amazing...it was a rout for the home team...I can't remember the score but I know we got almost 60 points and England had less than 30. And Kenz had a great time as well. We followed it up with dinner out in Fourways at an amazing steakhouse. South Africa has it's ups and downs like everywhere, but I must say, the restaurants and food are amazing!!Here's the home team warming up and the stadium itself, as well as a pre-game show. Apparently, someone within SA Rugby has a program whereby they invite kids from the informal settlements (read "shack townships") to come and see and be part of the game and participate in the opening show. Kinda cool...


To make things even better (have I said that enough this post), turns out there was another match the following Saturday, the day Kenz was leaving. The match was between the 'Boks and Samoa, right here in Johannesburg, at Ellis Park. Kenz wanted to go again, so I got tickets from Robyn again, and off we went. It was just Kenz and I this time but it was still fun, just different and more low key. It was a bit challenging finding the stadium...I'd never been there and the map was dodgy. But we saw a car with some people wearing Springbok gear so we followed them and it all turned out fine. The game was a blow-out for the Springboks...I forget the score again, but I know Samoa only scored like 3 points. It was an excellent way for Kenz to wrap up her trip to South Africa. Right after the game we had dinner then off the airport for the return trip to Canada. We definitely packed a lot of things into the trip.