Today was a particularly beautiful day in Edinburgh. The sun was beaming down and it was hot enough to dry my washing (not that interesting for you, but awesome for me). I decided that it would be a damn shame to let the day go to waste. As the flat I am staying at is situated just behind Murrayfield (the home of Scottish Rugby, a very proud albeit fairly useless establishment), I went for a leisurely stroll around the stadium and surrounding parks. I found a park bench in the middle of the domain, in between 2 cricket pitches, and did a quick French lesson (I can now order drinks at a cafe, brilliant).

Afterwards I sat and watched the dog walkers and joggers making the most of the stunning day. Then I saw 5 men arrive in a group with a rugby ball and start passing it around. They were all deathly pale and had below par rugby skills. They were obviously Scottish (2 of them had flaming red hair, another give away). Then these guys started a full on proper game of touch rugby. 3 on 2. Well that's just not on, so what's a good old Kiwi bloke (yes, that's how I refer to myself), to do? I offered myself as the 6th man to get a real contest going.

So the scene was this: 5 somewhat athletic Scotsmen dressed in shorts and singlets, wearing Asics and Nike trainers, were running around with an equally pale, tall and lanky New Zealander, decked out in tight black t-shirt, jeans, and Globe skate shoes. It was embarrassing. And the worst part was that I sucked. They played completely different rules to what I was used to playing at High School (Massey represent) and I was so slow off the mark (due to the skate shoes and/or my lack of fitness) that I couldn't make a single decent play. Now I have never been ANY good at rugby, but coming from NZ you kind of expect to be up to some kind of standard. My standard = utter crap. After 10 minutes I wanted to pass out I was so hot and exhausted. I could tell that the Scottish guys were regretting letting me play. 30 minutes go by and finally, mercifully, the game finished.

In case you weren't aware, New Zealand has played rugby at Murrayfield and in Scotland a lot throughout history. And as the record books will show, New Zealand has NEVER lost a game. We have a perfect record. Until now. I have singlehandedly blemished NZ's perfect reputation at Murrayfield. I'm sorry New Zealand.