I sat on the hard plastic seat, my stomach almost churning with nervous anticipation. It was a warm Sunday afternoon in Marseilles and I was high in the Orange Velodrome stadium looking forward to England's quarter-final match with Fiji. Looking forward was perhaps the wrong phrase, England had suffered a torrid year and indeed had lost in a "friendly" to Fiji recently at Twickenham of all places. Fiji had been playing well and were perhaps the surprise package of the Rugby World Cup so far.
I hadn't planned on being here, I enjoyed watching rugby and had played a bit in my youth, but when a mate had offered me a ticket due to him having to pull out because of a death in the family, I had accepted. It was a complete package, coach down to the South of France, hotel overnight and then the match. The coach was due to leave back for England soon after the match, travelling back overnight.
The trip had been organised by the local rugby club and there were about twenty people going. It was principally the journey back that had put me off going on the coach, twenty pissed rugby players, for surely lots of beer was going to be consumed, on an overnight coach trip. So I'd made some enquiries and found that I could actually get a nice hotel room near the stadium, disappointed Aussies heading home early, I thought.
I decided to make a bit of a break of it and would drive down in my newish Mercedes, taking a couple of days over it, then the same back, spending a night in a hotel on each leg. I was single, approaching mid-thirties and had a fairly flexible work life. No brainer! Some nice food and wine and hopefully a good match with a good outcome, although that was looking very far from certain.
The stadium was starting to fill up, plenty of white shirts streaming in and soon the area around me was filling as well. I could see the group that I was supposed to be with, I was pretty much in the middle of it, sticking out like a sore thumb because unlike them, I didn't have an England shirt on. A woman struggled her way past the other seats and sat next to me. She was in jeans and the obligatory England shirt and brought me to mind of a prop forward. She was pretty big, although her boobs didn't look huge.
She offered her hand, "Hi, I'm Bella, short for Isabelle, but only my mother calls me that. You must be Mike's replacement. Sorry to hear about his loss." I shook her hand and we settled down making small talk, she told me she was indeed a prop forward and I told her about driving down and we discussed the other quarter-finals, both of which had been cracking games with favourites Ireland going out, and Wales making a pretty ham fisted attempt.
The game started and England were doing really well, early tries by Tuilagi and Marchant having us all on our feet cheering, then a try from Fiji left the game at 15-10 for half time. We struggled out and queued for some beers, hastily downing them before going back in. England were holding their own and it looked as though it was going to be a comfortable win, but suddenly just as the bench was beginning to come on, Fiji scored twice in quick succession and it was all tied at 24 all with only 10 minutes left.
"Squeaky bum time," shouted Bella to me, summing up the situation exactly, England looking decidedly nervous. Then Farrell scored a dropped goal and every Englishman, and woman, leaped to their feet shouting and screaming. Bella turned to me and pulled me into a tight hug and I realised that there probably wasn't announce of fat on that frame, she felt hard and tight.
With two minutes to go Farrell put over a penalty and once more everyone went mad, Bella hugging me again and planting a kiss on my face at the same time. The final whistle and everyone was on their feet, me once more held in a bear hug by Bella who was planting a huge smackeroo right on my lips as she bounced up and down, her boobs heaving magnificently under that shirt.
Everyone filed out of the stadium in an ebullient mood, and it was nice to see the England supporters consoling the Fijians in their colourful garb. We all set off in search of a bar and more beer, but everywhere was rammed, the France vs. South Africa game starting in an hour or so. So we all ended up in different bars and I found myself with Bella and a few others in a small bar, packed into a corner. We watched the start of the game and I asked Bella when her coach left, she looked at her phone and told me there was plenty of time still.
The others drifted away and we found ourselves alone. It was an absolute cracking game and we were all absorbed in it until half time when Bella said she had to go. We hugged and kissed and promised to meet up when we were back in England and she left. I watched the game, cheering politically for the French, and was surprised when Bella turned up again, forcing herself through the throng to my side.
"They're not there," she shouted, "I was there in plenty of time, but they've gone!"
"What time were you supposed to be there?"
"By nine."
"I looked at my phone and the clock on the bar and said, "But It's gone ten!"
She looked at her phone which clearly said 21:15 and then wailed "Bugger, fuck, shit and bollocks! I turned roaming off and didn't switch it back on." She pressed some buttons and the time changed to 22:17 and a series of bleeps came from the device. She read the messages and groaned. I took the phone from her and read:
<< Leaving for the coach now>>
<<Can't see you. Where are you>>