Swing Low Part 2.

Sunday 15th October 2023. Aubagne, Marseille.

Here we are half way through October on our final day in South France for the culmination of the Rugby World Cup cycling tour. It’s an amazing thought that this day has arrived after such a long time of planning. It is also, probably, our last day of warm sunny weather….tomorrow we travel northwards.

Today has been a great way to finish this rugby based part of our trip. We caught the train into the city again and got settled into a port side cafe for coffee time….

We did a bit of sightseeing on in the Vieux Port….

We caught the Metro to the Velodrome Stadium (nothing to do with cycling) which is the home of football team Olympic Marseille. It’s an engineering masterpiece.

We had great seats and, to our surprise met a couple (Neil and Penny) from our home town who were sitting four seats away from us!

We also chatted to some nattily dressed chaps sitting in front….

The match was exciting and close. England weren’t convincing but got a couple of early tries and Fiji played particularly well. Fiji were 14 points behind in the second half and then struck with two sensational tries but England sealed the win with a drop goal and a penalty….phew. Final score was England 30, Fiji 24.

We managed the return Metro and train back to the site pretty well to avoid the crush and watched the France v South Africa game over the internet. What a massive game it was. It was on a par with the Ireland/All Blacks match the night before. It was fast, skilful and brutal. South Africa won by one point….so close and so sad for the French.

What a day! We are so glad we got the tickets for the match as it finished our visit to Marseille and to the Rugby World Cup perfectly. We had always decided to end the trip at the Quarter Finals stage. I had no urge to motorhome into Paris. England will play South Africa next weekend and I think it could be a big defeat for us but I will keep my fingers crossed.