Hey the Taylors get to go out again!
This time more rugby, but at Wembley Stadium. Alis's cousin Nick was (as regular readers will know) picked to play for the Barbarians against Australia. So the Cirencester Branch of the Cullip family (including Bess) set off for the smoke to meet a large contingent of the South African branch to watch.
The new Wembley is a fantastic venue, more of a hotel that just happens to have a stadium attached than a football ground. I've never seen stewards on any ground wearing suits and ties ("can I help you sir?"). Nick was starting on the bench...but what a bench with Shane Williams (officially the finest player in the world and pictured above with our Nick) and George Gregan keeping him company. The entire Barbarians team was a roll call of the best players in the world - so it was a real thrill to see Nick even warming up along the touch line.
The atmosphere was fantastic everyone who wasn't Australian (and there were a lot of them) was cheering on the Barbarians. It seemed odd to sing 'god save the queen' with only few englishmen in the team, but Bess belted it out with the rest of us. It was a really exciting game and played with a lot of passion (as a number of injured Aussies will testify). Nick played for most of the second half and played well, no doubt securing himself a place in a future Springbok team.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and the score, although the Barbars lost, seemed immaterial. Bess enjoyed her second international rugby match, singing, cheering and even eyeballing the lads sat behind us who had knocked over a beer. And we enjoyed the occasion and meeting up with a whole bus-load of South African relatives.
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