Women’s Rugby World Cup

...is being co-hosted by Dublin and Belfast, where the semi-finals were held today. I watched the New Zealand Black Ferns walk all over the U.S. Eagles and I watched a well matched game between England and France. Here is a French-English scrum.

And here is a NZ-US line out:

My two cents is the NZ backs were flat and advanced the ball whenever they got it, whereas the US backs were too deep and seemed to lose ground when they had possession.
It was a festive atmosphere and I enjoyed talking to a group of American fans.

And:

And here I am with an Eagles supporter:

In one of my former lives, I played rugby, first for the University of Delaware, then for the D.C. Furies, then for the Orlando Alouettes, and finally for a team in Kansas City, whose name I can’t recall. Watching all these young, fit women sprint all over the pitch made me feel very old. In addition, my shoulder, which has been mildly painful all year, has kicked into high gear. Sleeping at night involves arranging and rearranging pillows to support my arm so there is no stress at all on my shoulder. I canceled both my golf games this week and won’t be swimming for a while. I think playing golf on Sunday is what messed up my rotator cuff. Once upon a time I played rugby and now I can’t play golf or go running without getting hurt!
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