The Stormers Go for Gold
This past weekend was a lot slower than previous ones here in Cape Town, as I spent a lot of my days just hanging out, but I did check a couple of events off my list of things to do here in the evenings.
Like seeing a Chelsea soccer game in London, one of the things I really wanted to do here in Cape Town was see a rugby game in Green Point Stadium, the big bird's nest structure that was home to the 2010 soccer World Cup. Unfortunately, it turns out that it's too expensive to use that stadium for most events these days, so it sits empty most of the time. Luckily, there was still one rugby game happening during our time here at Newlands Stadium in Claremont about 20 minutes away. The match pitted the Stormers, a local club team, against the Sunwolves, a team from Tokyo, Japan. On Saturday night, a bunch of us made our way into Claremont, stopped for a pregame Castle Light at The Toad and a cheeseburger pie at a concession stand, and made our way to our seats in row 00.
It was a big stadium, but largely empty for this international match that the Stormers were meant to dominate, so we were able to score awesome seats. The match quickly got underway, and it was fun to watch. I know most of the rules by now, and Matt, the urban ranger who organized our trip to the game, was sitting right in front of me so I could ask him any questions I had on weird plays. The game was close in the first 40 minutes, but in the second half the Stormers ran away with it, eventually winning 52-19. At least the Japanese team tried, even it they didn't try very often. The Stormers did finish one player down however, lost to what must have been a broken rib. He got kneed in the stomach going for a jump ball, and we could actually here a crack on the impact.
This game was part of an international club tournament, kind of like Champions League in soccer, and while they dominated this game, Matt thought they had a long way to go before they would be ready to face a New Zealand side and bring home the gold. We however, got Gold the following night.
I had made reservations for Gold, a restaurant hidden in Green Point, for 8 of us (Me, Wills, Zach, Liz, Anna, Phil, Katherine, and Emily) on Sunday night. Gold serves 14 courses of traditional South African and African food, paired with live singing, drumming, and dancing. Here's the menu we had. My personal favorites were the Zambian Kandolo Balls (kind of like Dim Sum sesame balls, but with sweet potato) and the Moroccan Grilled Vegetable Cous Cous.
The performances were also pretty fun, except for the weird, tall wooden man and to the one girl they brought on stage who just was not having it.
Overall, rugby and Gold were a great way to experience South African sport, food, and art this weekend!
Like seeing a Chelsea soccer game in London, one of the things I really wanted to do here in Cape Town was see a rugby game in Green Point Stadium, the big bird's nest structure that was home to the 2010 soccer World Cup. Unfortunately, it turns out that it's too expensive to use that stadium for most events these days, so it sits empty most of the time. Luckily, there was still one rugby game happening during our time here at Newlands Stadium in Claremont about 20 minutes away. The match pitted the Stormers, a local club team, against the Sunwolves, a team from Tokyo, Japan. On Saturday night, a bunch of us made our way into Claremont, stopped for a pregame Castle Light at The Toad and a cheeseburger pie at a concession stand, and made our way to our seats in row 00.
It was a big stadium, but largely empty for this international match that the Stormers were meant to dominate, so we were able to score awesome seats. The match quickly got underway, and it was fun to watch. I know most of the rules by now, and Matt, the urban ranger who organized our trip to the game, was sitting right in front of me so I could ask him any questions I had on weird plays. The game was close in the first 40 minutes, but in the second half the Stormers ran away with it, eventually winning 52-19. At least the Japanese team tried, even it they didn't try very often. The Stormers did finish one player down however, lost to what must have been a broken rib. He got kneed in the stomach going for a jump ball, and we could actually here a crack on the impact.
This game was part of an international club tournament, kind of like Champions League in soccer, and while they dominated this game, Matt thought they had a long way to go before they would be ready to face a New Zealand side and bring home the gold. We however, got Gold the following night.
I had made reservations for Gold, a restaurant hidden in Green Point, for 8 of us (Me, Wills, Zach, Liz, Anna, Phil, Katherine, and Emily) on Sunday night. Gold serves 14 courses of traditional South African and African food, paired with live singing, drumming, and dancing. Here's the menu we had. My personal favorites were the Zambian Kandolo Balls (kind of like Dim Sum sesame balls, but with sweet potato) and the Moroccan Grilled Vegetable Cous Cous.
The performances were also pretty fun, except for the weird, tall wooden man and to the one girl they brought on stage who just was not having it.
Overall, rugby and Gold were a great way to experience South African sport, food, and art this weekend!
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