A Friday lunchtime arrival, allowed time to sit in the calm of a piazza with a couple of ice cold beers, before the chaos of the arriving hordes from Gaulle (sorry France) and the registering at the hotel. (TheEggChaser travel tip number 1: Always make sure you get to the hotel before everyone else and claim the best room). Salutations were made, and in typical Furieux style (Les Furieux is the name of the band of merry travelers - which caused much confusion 2 years ago on arrival at Leeds-Bradford arport when the bus driver asked in a broad Hull accent "Which one's Les?") we headed to Burger King. Yes, Burger King. The French, for all their culinary know-how/snobbishness (delete as appropriate) love nothing more than going to Burger King when they can; the chain having left Paris a decade ago.
A Whopper/Double Whopper/Cheeseburger meal later, and time for tourism. Colisseum, Forum, Irish Pub. That was about the size of it. 3 kitty rounds of Guinness/Cider/Lager later, and the restaurant Carbonara awaited us. 8 courses later and it was Irish bar time again, but only till closing, as there was a 1330 kick off the next day, and I had a rendez-vous at the ground at 1100 to collect tickets and sample the delights of the Peroni village.
Nestled in amongst the stadia and halls built for the Rome Olympics, with statues everywhere, the Peroni village (other over-priced gassy lagers do exist) was placed amidst the old Olympic stadium warm-up track and under sunny skies. The atmosphere was fantastic. Home and away fans mingle as only rugby fans can, and after a few drinks and a sandwich, off we toddled to the ground, anticipating a quality game.
The less said about the actual game the better. Scotland looked lethargic, disinterested and heartless, which are the three things you least expect to see from a side wearing a thistle. Italy were scarcely better, and to the general opinion of all, this was the worst game of international rugby we had seen. Considering it was my 42nd game going back 21 years, that's some statement, but I stick by it. For the record, Italy won 13-6, scoring the only try of the game. That about says that.
The walk back to Central Rome for drinks and the remaining games was next and after a brief drama in the Highlander bar, where they ran out of glasses (I kid you not!) we watched the Welsh celebrate a Grand Slam, before England wiped out Ireland in a one-way second half. Food called, followed by a smallish bar crawl, and a reasonable night at 0100, as there was the Pope to visit the next day.
The Pope greeted us from his balcony (well it could have been a cardboard cut-out really) and after he explained to us in Latin what he had got up to on St Patrick's Day, how he had a hangover and what a crap game it was the day before) we toddled off for more pizza before heading back to the airport to round off another successsful trip. Les Furieux have now done 10 trips of varying magnitude (Rome twice, Dublin, Marseilles 6 times and Hull - don't ask - with a reduced group of 4 to Edinburgh arguably making an 11th). Our eyes are firmly set on Hong Kong next year.
Team of the Tournament
So congratulations go to Wales on a deserved Grand Slam. They benefitted, it could be argued, from key decisions going their way at key times, but they were still the best side in the tournament by a distance. England made steady progress and got 1 more win than most thought they could achieve. France and Ireland disappointed, while Scotland and Italy really disappointed, though you could argue that good foundations have been set for next year.
Here is my Team of the Tournament, as published at the excellent http://www.therugbyblog.co.uk/ but with their Deputies here too.
Alex Corbisiero (Eng) 1. Gethin Jenkins (Wal)
Rory Best (Ire) 2. Dylan Hartley (Eng)
Dan Cole (Eng) 3. Adam Jones (Wal)
Richie Gray (Sco) 4. Geoff Parling (Eng)
Mauritz Botha (Eng) 5. Ian Evans (Wal)
Dan Lydiate (Wal) 6. Stephen Ferris (Ire)
Sam Warburton (Wal) 7. Ross Rennie (Sco)
Ben Morgan (Eng) 8. Toby Faletau (Wal)
Mike Phillips (Wal) 9. Lee Dickson (Eng)
Owen Farrell (Eng) 10. Jonathan Sexton (Ire)
George North (Wal) 11. Stuart Hogg (Sco)
Wesley Fofana (Fra) 12. Jamie Roberts (Wal)
Jonathan Davies (Wal) 13. Manu Tuilagi (Eng)
Alex Cuthbert (Wal) 14. Tommy Bowe (Ire)
Rob Kearney (Ire) 15. Leigh Halfpenny (Wal)
Yes I know Hogg is out of position, but he did play wing, and the dearth of top class wing play was a major low point of this Championship. I'd love to see those teams go head -to-head. I'd also love to hear your thoughts below as ever.
My International "Career Stats"
I put these together on the flight back to Rome. Sides are ordered by percentage wins, with the tie break factor being games played in case of level pegging. Some surprising stats here! Any Italians want to pay my way to Rome any time, or Scots want to pay me not to go to Murrayfield, email me to discuss!!
Team; Played; Won; Drawn; Lost; Percentage
Italy 3 - 3 - 0 - 0 - 100 |
South Africa 2 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 100 |
New Zealand 6 - 5 - 0 - 1 - 83.3 |
England 16 - 12 - 0 - 4 - 75 |
France 23 - 13 - 1 - 9 - 58.7 |
Australia 4 - 2 - 0 - 2 - 50 |
Wales 8 - 3 - 0 - 5 - 37.5 |
Ireland 4 - 1 - 0 - 3 - 25 |
Argentina 3 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 16.67 |
Fiji 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 |
Tonga 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 |
Japan 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 |
USA 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 |
Canada 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 |
Scotland 10 - 0 - 0 - 10 - 0 |
Will leave it at that for this week. Back as ever next week with some views on something or other..... Follow me on Twitter if you don't already @theeggchaser