The Lions Sleep Tonight

After the crash, bang wallop of Brisbane the Lions supporters have disappeared to various parts of this fabulous country.  Some are catching up with relatives who have settled here whilst others are taking advantage of the warmer weather in northern Queensland.  Ricey and I travelled directly to Melbourne where the week has been a little more sedate, thankfully.

Melbourne is an absolutely phenomenal city.  It has everything!   The feel of the city is one of sophistication, culture and vibrancy.  The days are very Autumnal.  Once again people are very friendly and so willing to help despite that most of them don’t even know of the British Lions let alone the game of rugby union.  In fact you wouldn’t even know that that there was a huge match between the Lions and the Wallabies taking place if it wasn’t for the sea of red shirts.  Rugby Union is Melbourne’s fourth sport, which is not surprising really as this is the birthplace of Aussie Rules Football, “footy”.

Melbourne is Australia’s sporting capital.  There are so many sport stadia it is quite unbelievable.  The highlight of the week has been the tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).  An absolute must for any sports fan especially cricket followers. The tour took us to all parts of the stadium including the changing rooms and the Long Room.  The ground has to be the best place in the World to watch cricket and Aussie rules.  Liverpool FC are playing to a full house, over 100,000, in July. The MCG also houses the National Sports Museum.  You could spend a week in here there is just so much to see.

Following the victory in Brisbane the big question on everyone’s lips was not ‘why isn’t Mike Philipp’s playing at scrum half’; not ‘why has Gatlin made five changes to a winning team’; not ‘what are we going to do without Paul O’Connell’. No the big question in all the bars was “how much did you pay to come out here?”

When blokes get together it can be like an old women’s’ knitting circle.   Almost every conversation veered towards assessing each other tour packages.  Actually these discussions opened my eyes to the number of options available. Gareth Chilcott’s, former Bath and England, company Venatours seems to be providing best value for money on the organized package front.  Included in Gareth’s posse are Jason Leonard, former Lion and most capped English player, and Shane Williams, former Lion and Welsh wizard.  The best thing about this set up is there seems to be plenty of excursions and events that help to break up the time between games.  Just behind them are ‘Gullivers Travel’ and ‘Touring with the Lions’, the official operator.

The most impressive and innovative tour has been the one organised by the 29 boys from Methyr Tydfil, S Wales.  These guys are seasoned tourist and have really “nailed it”.  The boys have travelled to Thailand, down to Byron Bay, Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.  The last leg of their tour is Los Angeles before returning to Methyr (that’s like moving between planets).  These guys are basically travelling around the world for £2800 each, including a contribution to a £10k beer kitty!  Hats off.

The main legions of Lions supporters started to descend on Melbourne from Thursday building the atmosphere right up to the game.  As I said previously when the Brits get together it creates something quite unique.  The Aussies really do not know what has hit them.  The Ethiad Stadium was again full to capacity at 55,000, 50/50 Lions to Aussies.  Yet another record capacity. 

The game itself was not as exhilarating as the first test with the Lions performing poorly and not really threatening the Australians line. Having said that we could have sneaked it in the last minute with a narrow miss by Leigh Halfpenny.  I guess there was some poetic justice for Kurtley ‘the Burger Boy’ Beale miss in the first game.  The final score was a fair one and sets up the final test nicely.

Farewell to Melbourne.  Next stop Sydney!

Eateries

·      Young & Jackson – good meeting point opposite Flinders Street station.  Good variety of beers but all taste the same.  http://www.youngandjacksons.com.au

·      Breslin - steaks, good snapper, bread and butter pudding with non clotted cream http://breslingrill.com.au

·      The Duke of Wellington – good food and beer.  An official Lions Den. http://dukeofwellington.com.au

·      Leftbank – familiar lagers available in addition to the local brews.  Excellent service with free WiFi (a rare occurrence).  Situated on Southgate and another official Lions Den.  http://www.leftbankmelbourne.com.au