One of my many, many interests is watching international rugby.

Normally I watch on television, but for only the second time ever, yesterday I actually went to the game.

The game – Scotland vs Wales – the opening game of Scotland’s 2009 Six Nations campaign at Murrayfield. My wife and I treated ourselves (and her parents) to the tickets for Christmas, having been to Scotland vs South Africa last November during the Autumn Tests series, which we both really enjoyed.

Highlights of the afternoon for me were:

• Getting a free Famous Grouse & Appletiser (which was really, really nice) and a free beanie hat from the guys at the Famous Grouse Tent. Thanks Guys!!
• My RefLink! – A little radio you can buy at the stadium (for £5) that allows you to hear everything the referee is saying throughout the match, as you would if you were watching it on TV. This really helped me keep up with what was happening on the pitch, as not only could you hear the Ref, you also could hear sounds from all around him. I could hear the players shouting at each other and the crunch of tackles as they happened.
• Scoring an absolute bargain at the rugby store – getting a classic S/S Scotland rugby shirt for 1/2 price!!
• Arriving back at Haymarket station just as our train pulled into the station, meaning we got straight on and straight home, thus avoiding a 30 min wait in the freezing cold. Nice!

Now, you will note that missing from this list is any reference to Scotland’s performance. Sadly, that was not a highlight for me as we really didn’t play well. We were totally outclassed by the Welsh for the vast majority of the game. We did rally in the last 10 mins and it was good to see us scoring a try at home, but overall we just didn’t deliver. To be honest, I didn’t go to the game expecting a win. The Welsh are probably the best team in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment, but I expected us to put up a fight.

However, this did not affect my overall enjoyment of the match. Watching the Welsh burst through our lines again and again was thrilling to watch (albeit a little disheartening). The atmosphere before the game and inside the stadium was amazing, and even though we didn’t have very expensive seats, we still had a great view of the entire field. If you have never been to a game, I would highly recommend it. It’s a great afternoon out regardless of the final result. So much so, we have just booked up to go back at the end of the month to see Scotland vs Italy which, hopefully, will be a better day for Scotland.

I’m gonna finish this, my first proper post, with a video I shot of the National Anthems being performed using my trusty Canon G9 compact camera. In it you can see and hear the fantastic atmosphere I was talking about. Enjoy!