starstruck. very.

rugby-related, and in which i seem like a total gushing groupie - you, yes you, have been warned!



it was most surreal yesterday, 3 of us - mer, her fijian friend and i - headed to kensington, hoping to catch the southern team in training (mer: "i'm sure they'll be there!" yeah right). but they weren't (much to my chagrin - it cost me to take the tube there!)

as we traipsed a bit disappointedly past the team hotel (which is right next to the park where mer had seen them train on tues), we decided to hang around at the bus stop just outside it, just in case any of the players had it on their minds to leave the hotel. we were as groupie-ish as it gets.

and a good thing we were, because within a couple of minutes, this fijian player came out of the hotel, talking on his mobile phone. mer and her friend were certain that he'd spot them (we were very much within sight, and there aren't that many fijians in london) and realise they're fijian - and he did! he waved at us, finished his conversation and came over to say hi. then mer her friend and him began conversing in fijian and all i could do was stand there and grin, obviously. meeting a player of the same nationality/ethnicity was quite fortunate for mer and her friend, and therefore - by association - me; imagine if one of the players were s'porean and you'd know what i mean - bound by race and roots, you'd have common topics and similar mindsets, and it'd be easier to (for want of a better word,) "infiltrate".

it was fuh-reezing outside, so pretty soon he invited us back into the hotel lobby. *more grinning* and that was when the sightings began.

we bumped into the s. african capt j. smit, and promptly accosted him for a photo. he is huge.

soon after, the lift doors opened (mer thinking to herself: please let it be a player!) and guess who came out - gregan. as in, the aust capt. scrumhalf gregan. i was quite "star-struck", and grinning like right idiot.

more photo-taking, with gregan obliging. *grin grin grin* (he's pretty short in comparison to most rugby players, btw)

we headed to the starbucks opposite the hotel with the fijian player and just hung out there for awhile (more conversation about fiji-related stuff, as i sipped on my strawberry and cream frappucino).

then it was back to the hotel lobby, where we sat around and waited for other players to turn up. it really helped that the fijian player was around, 'cos then we weren't seen by the hotel staff as intrusive fans (though you should have seen some of the glances thrown our way by the receptionists).

from where we sat, we could see everyone coming towards, and into the hotel. we saw the aussies latham and p. waugh (whom we spotted again later and managed to take a photo with - he was quite friendly and nice).

a lot had been made about how all 3 tri-nations (nz, aus, s.a.) capts were taking part in the match, and having spotted (and accosted, and taken a photo with, and gawked after over) smit and gregan, i couldn't help but hope really hard that we'd spot umaga (the nz capt) - that would really complete the trinity ;P

as the afternoon ticked by, we started resigning ourselves to the possibility of not bumping into umaga. besides, we'd been lucky enough to have bumped into a few players already.

and then guess who we spotted, dressed in an oversized demin jacket, wearing a black beanie that shrouded his usually wild locks - umaga. yep yep. we saw him coming towards the hotel, and got extremely excited. not wanting to cause a little scene (3 grinning excitable girls taking photos in a hotel lobby can be quite distracting), we rushed out of the lobby to the front porch, and accosted (such a handy word) him. now umaga can look a bit (okay, make that quite) scary when he's not smiling - but he was approachable and obliged for the photos.

what an exciting afternoon it was.

what an interesting week it's been.

what a set of circumstances... i now believe in serendipity. :D