Go the Tahs!

Sunday night I went to the
Waratahs v the ACT Brumbies rugby union test, my first in Australia, or anywhere for that matter. I still don't understand everything about the game--I've seen less RU than any other sport since we've been here--but the game was a lot of fun. The Waratahs were victorious,
solidifying their place at number two on the ladder. My original seat was behind glass, but I was able to move to an open seat nearby. A program cost me $7, but it came with the obligatory plastic sky blue wrist band. The Brumbies jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first twenty minutes,
but the rest of the game was all Waratahs. Full story from the Sydney Morning Herald can be found here.
The first picture is a scrum, a staple of rugby union. I still haven't figured out how players avoid breaking their neck every time they do this. The second
picture is a line out play. This is an inbounds play thrown in by the team who did not put the ball out of play. They have to throw the ball in between the two lines, but their team has the advantage because they know if they are throwing the ball short or long--notice the Waratah
player who has been lifted into the air by his teammates. The third picture shows the teams and the scoreboard at "full time". A month ago I mentioned the ads painted on the playing surface of sporting events in "Footy Season". I got some pictures of that at the game. The fourth was taken near the TV camera--you can see the Tooheys New ad is nearly square and the HSBC ad appears to be standing upright on the try line--note the "shadow". The next picture was taken from my seat and you can see how skewed the ads really are.
Running update: I ran nine miles Sunday afternoon, and it was easy--much more so than eight last week, or even six a couple days ago. I ran it in 70 minutes, just under my 8 min/mile pace. I'm considering the marathon next year again--I think I'm going to go back and forth on this quite a bit.