Ireland v England Rugby

For Sunday afternoon's rugby match between Ireland and England, I declined invitations to watch from American friends in favor of a more authentic approach: go to a pub, grab a pint, and try to blend in with the locals. As you would imagine, Ireland v England was a huge match. But even with politics and history aside, Ireland is in the running for their first Six Nations Grand Slam rugby title since 1948, and had to beat reigning world champion England on Sunday to keep their hopes alive. Throughout the game, the crowd at the pub was very focused on the game. Whenever their man was lining up a crucial kick, the whole bar would go dead silent. I've noticed the difficulty in understanding Irish people under normal circumstances, but at some of the more action packed moments, it got even worse. All I could decipher from the grunts was "Kill him!" whenever England had the ball, or "Drive him!" when Ireland was advancing. These death threats must have made a difference, because Ireland won a thrilling game 19-13 after a last minute flurry that saw England stall at their goal line, igniting quite a celebration in the pub. If they get past visiting France the weekend after next, that will set up a showdown with Wales in a likely winner-take-all situation. Though rugby isn't a tradional Irish sport, it's still huge here, and in Limerick especially, and I'm not quite sure what a win over Wales would set off. Europeans have a difficult time dealing with American football. They wonder, why do the players wear so many pads? Why does the action stop so much? So you're saying there's actually a player who gets paid just to punt the fecking ball three times a game? I have to admit; there's definitely some validity in that critique, especially when you watch 30 guys with no real pads on beat the hell out of each other in two 40 minute, non-stop halves. Even though I don't understand all the rules, it's fascinating stuff to watch.