The Rugby World Cup of 2011 started last Friday and is the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial International Rugby Union competition. This year it is played in New Zealand, the country’s largest sporting event ever with some 90,000 visitors expected. 20 teams are competing, and the USA and Russia have teams as well. Live TV coverage in the USA is only available as special sports packages from NBC’s Universal Sports channel. Some matches are shown in full after a day or two, though. Says the official website (http://www.rugbyworldcup.com) of Thu Sep 15’s match-up in Pool C between the Cold War foes : ‘USA and Russia are prepared for an intense battle in what might be their only chance to record a victory at Rugby World Cup 2011’. Oh boy. Better go for it, then. Go USA!
Of course, I root for South Africa as well; the Springboks are the defending champions and eked out a 1 point win over Wales on Sunday in a Pool D match. Go Bokke !
The map of New Zealand showing the stadiums is from Wikipedia. Where is Christchurch located, site of the 6.5 earthquake in Feb? It sits on the nub sticking out from the south eastern part of the South island (so no stadiums there).
