My first day in Australia

I'm getting to this blog a bit late, but I have been super busy having fun down under! Anyway, I arrived at the airport in Brisbane, Australia yesterday morning (Saturday) at 7 am where our host, Dave Howard, and his father picked us up. The Howards are a wonderful family that loves rugby and invited us into their home with open arms, serving us a full homemade breakfast.

As it turns out, the rugby songs could not be more spot on. Saturday is truly a rugby day. Jake was able to jump in and play for his age group, even through his jet lag after 23 hours of travel! I traveled down with Dave to the Gold Coast of Australia to watch (and unfortunately not play) the men's side games for GPS, the club we are playing for.

I have quickly discovered how much this country is in love with rugby. There is an unbelievable amount of rugby fields around here. It seems like there is a pitch on every corner, filled with people of all ages playing this great sport. We were lucky enough to arrive on one of the greatest rugby weekends in Brisbane, for the Queensland Reds were hosting the British and Irish Lions that night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Australia, being obsessed with rugby, had all the youth and men's games pushed up earlier in the day to allow everyone to attend/watch this game. So in typical rugby fashion, we rushed home as quickly as possible after the game to start drinking the go-to beer in Queensland, XXXX Gold.

I'm sure many of you do not understand why this rugby match means so much. The British and Irish Lions is a highly selective team of players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales that has been around for over 100 years. This team goes on tour once every 4 years and travels to the Southern Hemisphere to play New Zealand, South Africa, or Australia. Fortunately for me they are playing Australia this year. In preparation for their 3 match series against the Australian Wallabies they played the Queensland Reds, a professional rugby team out of Brisbane that plays in the Super XV (the most elite professional league in the Southern Hemisphere).

Clearly, I was extremely excited to attend this game, and my expectations were matched. It was a sellout crowd at Suncorp Stadium which seats over 50,000 people. There were over 20,000 people from the U.K. that traveled down with the lions to see these matches. Walking towards the stadium in the middle of a massive crowd was very similar to the feeling of going to an NFL or Penn State football game. It is impossible for me to describe the feeling I got when I first walked into the stadium and could see the field. I was in awe.

This was a superbly humbling experience. Coming out of CRC's where I played in front of a large crowd at PPL park and on national television, I thought I had reached the summit of rugby. As it turns out, I am nowhere close. I was absolutely starstruck watching Quade Cooper throw 30 meter spin passes with the continent of Australia cheering him on. Also, I was lucky enough to witness what will most likely be the try of the year... (click the link below)

Luke Morahan - Try of the Year

Overall, it was an amazing first day.