rugby weekend!

Mean looking girl

I will score tries:)

eagerly awaiting...

Our bed arrives today! I've emptied the room that can actually now called a bedroom whereas before it was more of a dumping ground. I'll be at training when it gets delivered, an extra forward session today in preparation of a very important game on saturday, against Malmö-Trelleborg.

Pictures to follow! of the bed and probably the game as well... need to get more active with the camera when there's rugby going on.

Scarface

Another silly injury from rugby training, playing grab and hold I collided with one of my team mates and her eyebrow was gashed open: A bit of deja vu, a similar thing happened in London a few years ago, except I was intact then, not as lucky last night as I stood up and said "don't worry I have a hard head" to coach who replied "yeah, but you're still bleeding though"
Off to the A&E we went and after waiting for a few hours as they had forgotten me (how they could miss the very upset girl with blood on her face I do not know) and then at 11 pm I got my five beautiful stitches. Not impressed. Hate needles and stitches. The doctor thought I was a big baby and threatened me to stitch up my mouth. Fair enough...

must have been a good weekend...

just showing off a few of my bruises from this weekend. What a weekend... We lost away to Lund yesterday by one point. We did not play well but we were never going to be allowed to win anyway, referee was on their side from the start... Today was a challenge, but we all like one of those, don't we. I honestly could not picture myself playing 80 min of rugby when I woke up this morning. But I did it for my team. It's such a nice feeling being part of a team after my Scotland experience. These Gothenburg girls are a good bunch and I feel like we've been through hell together this weekend, and come out the other side stronger as a team. It has to be mentioned as well that our opposition today was my old team and a few familiar faces, but there was no doubt where my heart was today.

Do you know what? I would do it all again tomorrow if I had to.

working class hero

I survived my first day back at work after about 8 months holiday! In fact, I quite enjoyed it, getting stuck in and trying to learn my may around the café, all the prices and the menu. It'll take a while but I'll get there. Having a day off tomorrow, (ah the joys of part time work) time for training and getting stuck in to my other job. I'm booking sports halls for the twelve week sports academy I'm managing this autumn. I've already organised with the rugby club to book the facilities through them in order to keep prices down.

Training tonight was fab, even though we're missing a few key players in the back line that got injured playing for Sweden, it was flowing nicely and everybody seemed to be in a good mood. Excited and also apprehensive about the weekend and double-banger (game in Lund on Saturday and home game against Malmö on Sunday) ouch.

Sweden are going to the world cup!

Here's a clip from you tube with a suitable song from the other day when Sweden beat Spain and qualified for the World Cup in England next year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6sv5rS0Hp0

I get goosebumps again and can't help but dream of maybe putting on that jersey one day...

Rugby girls

I thought I'd keep you posted on what's going on in the Women's European Championship being played in Stockholm at the moment. Most importantly, to me anyway, Sweden beat Italy by two points (a try in the last second, oh the drama, oh goosebumps!).

Yesterdays results

Scotland-Russia: 84-0
Holland-Belgium: 100-0

Italy-Sweden :14-16
Spain-Germany: 74-0

Want to dig deeper?

rugby frenzy

Last night was brilliant! A local derby between the Waikato Chiefs and Auckland Blues was always going to be a humdinger but never expected it to be quite such a try fest! I think Caveman, Bevan and Ashling were quite glad we dragged the along :)
There were about 15 000 people in waikato stadium which isn't much by brittish standards but not too bad for NZ. The atmosphere was pumping and the players were obviously charged up, the first try being scored only a couple of minutes in to the game with a quick reply from the blues. But then... the mighty Chiefs ran away with it and never looked like letting the opponents back in to the game

Match report on TVNZ

Oddly my favorite moment of the evening was before the game outside the stadium when we encountered "possum" (THE chiefs supporter and also the man responsible for revving up the chainsaw, as well as the supporters, from a crane). He was walking around belting out, at the top of his voice, a welcome to everyone, a challenge, a reminder that the waikato is the sacred land, and general patriotic encouragements. He was beaming with raw passion for his team and I thought that was really impressive.

work it out

So... I'm back in to training again, well, never really got out of it but as the rugby season is getting closer I'm conditioning my bod for it. Base fitness is feeling good as that's been the main focus for the last few months, resting heart rate is 55 BPM which I'm v pleased with. Next step is getting in to the speed work, strength and power. The plan is to be mega fit hen I arrive in g-borg and join my new team. I'm also doing a few yoga stretches for injury prevention. My body is all mended now, no knee pain, no back pain, no hamstring problems (hardly) and I intend to keep it that way!

A b-day present for harland

mmm... yummy

proud and knackered with my gold medal
finally a win:
Here's the team that beat Glasgow uni 35-5 in the plate final @ murrayfield
Today I'm little miss hop along after spraining my ankle in the first tackle but playing on anyway.
It was a great day out and luckily BBE (best boyfriend ever) tagged along and had a good b-day.

Earlier that morning, the birthday boy, breakfast in bed and his new outfit:)

BRING IT HOME

WE'RE IN THE WORLD CUP FINAL!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/7041317.stm

Back out there

Today I was back out there again with the kirkcaldy girls against aberdeen. Final score 17-14. So close, but we lost. But a moral victory in a way, we played as a team and kept our heads up, unlike last week. And it was FUN. I'm still a bit rusty, not quite playing at my best but I'll get there....

New colors
and a new number on my back.
I'm not a front row.
I'm a flanker. for now...

game of the year

New Zealand v Scotland at Murrayfield. Final Score 40-0.

the atmosphere was brilliant, especially after the game in the street. A mob of people kicking the ball, everybody got involved, it was like a gigantic street party!

My big game is on Sunday. Back to MURRAYFIELD to play the wanderers.

He is ready...

So what's new...

A picture, because it makes the blog more fun to look at. And because England seem to have regained the ability to play rugby and beat Samoa 44-22 (although it was a bit close at times and my heart-rate was right up).

This boy was back, kicked 24 points and seem to have given the other lads some courage.

It's also the only photo I could find to steal on the internet.
Well, been a bit lazy with the blogging lately... Busy days when Mum and Hampus were here, it was lovely. Celebrated mums birthday in a lovely Greek restaurant in Bridge of Allan, an amazing experience. When they left I was fighting a cold (still am) so I haven't been to the gym all week. Been to rugby training though, that's making life a lot more fun. Joined Kirkcaldy Ladies team http://www.kirkcaldyrugby.co.uk/, soon I'll be seen in the BLUE, WHITE AND pink (!). My premiership debut is in a weeks time against Murrayfield Wanderers, one of the top teams in the country!

And speaking of Murrayfield, we're going there tomorrow, not to play but to watch New Zealand play the Scots. It's going to be great!

The countdown is over!!!

RUGBY WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY!!!
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/

the loooong wait is finally over and it's time to bring it home.
C'mon England!!!!

and mamma is coming to visit for 9 days :)