Loading ...Lions Diary Day 22.
The rest of the group are away shopping but I’ve been spending the morning editing photos from yesterdays game.
We’re all a bit down today, very disappointed and the general feeling with the tourists and the locals is that yesterday was very much a chance missed. The Lions seemed able to cut through there backs at will when they had the ball but they were being out-monstered up front both legally and illegally. I thought that the Lions were unlucky not to have scored two more tries and the referee was very poor. Four or five successive penalties by the Boks in the red zone and not one of them sent off – unbelievable, as was the crossing decision when Tommy was through!
There were a lot of worried Boks sitting round us for the last ten minutes so at least they were reasonably gracious in their win.
Lot to catch up on since Port Elizabeth. We had a quiet enough day round PE after the game and we did a bit of exploring of the Old Town which is sadly in a state of dilapidation with only traces left of its Victorian splendour. Most of the whites have moved down to the shorefront and the old hotels are now left ruined. A great pity! We did manage to find one bar amongst the run down buildings and it was well worth our trek to find it. The Stage Door Bar, (ex the Pheonix Hotel) gave us a glimpse of how it used to be during the towns heyday and it was a welcome break and refuelling point as we returned back to the seafront.
Next morning it was up at 4:30am for our flights to Durban. We had to fly to East London first then change for our flight to Durban. This was a real eye opener with signs for where to check in your firearms, and very little security in evidence. When your time came to board you just showed your ticket and walked out to the boarding area where you had the choice of several planes to get on. Fortunately we all managed to get on the right one and ended up safely in Durban, amazingly still with all our luggage.
Everywhere you go is like a building site as South Africa gets ready for the Football World Cup finals next year. New roads and stadiums are springing up everywhere. In Cape Town a new stadium was going up outside our hotel, in Port Elizabeth it Lions game was the first game to be played in their new stadium and in Durban the new stadium is going up beside the ABSA stadium. There should be pictures of them in the relevant galleries. All the roads and tourist spots are being done up as well but it’s very doubtful that they will get everything finished in time.
The weather in Durban is quite warm for us Ulster men it’s about 26 deg during the day dropping to a balmy 15 deg at night and match day was the warmest day of our tour. It was shorts and hats all round as we got ready to go to the game. After several threatening phone calls and about an hour and a half after our agreed pick up time we eventually got a taxi to take us to the game – if you are ever in Durban do not rely on taxi’s for anything they really are useless – and as we had to buy a corporate package for this game we headed into the Lions Den laid on by the robbing “registered travel partners” of the Lions. £250 for a match ticket (which were for sale in Durban the night before for £60) two cans of beer and a grotty burger was the fare on offer for the extra £190 charged. It’s no wonder there were over 13,000 packages returned for the three tests.
Having said that it was a great atmosphere with all the Lions supporters in one spot for a couple of hours before kick off and it was good to meet up with old Munster mates James & Des for a few swallies.
The match itself was a great atmosphere and everyone is generally confident that things can be turned around with a ref who has a clue and with a bit more grunt up front. Afterwards it was great crack, thanks mostly to the tribe of Willie John’s and the other characters dotted around. The partying went on late into the night …
More galleries here and more tomorrow!
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Tags: British and Irish Lions, Cape Town, Durban, Knysna, Lions in South Africa, Port Elizabeth, The FRU on Tour in South Africa
Good 2 c a yella Ulster fleg making an appearance in yer photos.
Rather too few photos of Cheerleaders. Please make more of an effort.
I agree with you that the Old Town ‘ruins’ are sad. The new Heritage act has gained some teeth and should help Port Elizabeth get some action on the restoral of these fine buildings. There are a number of ‘land/slum lords’ that own swathes of buildings in the historical area and who have just left them to go to rack and ruin.
Some images can be found here: http://www.mype.co.za/gallery/search.php?search_keywords=denton
My family sat in the midst of a British and Irish Lions contingent at the game in PE and had nothing but praise for them and their knowledge of the game and players – thank you for traveling to South Africa and come back soon.
Alan, thanks for your comment. We had a great time in Port Elizabeth and I definately intend to go back when I have a bit more time to travel around.
It would be great though if the Heritage Act managed to fix up some of the fantastic buildings in the city centre and around the Elizabeth Donkin Memorial.
Enjoying the updates from Suid Afrika & good to see that the FRU team are having a great time. The blog has been great but what’s happened since 22nd June? – ‘Hope your laptop hasn’t fallen into the hands of some dusky South African beauty!!!!!!!
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