Montpellier, France

Maury here...

We played our second pre-season match in Montpellier, France this week. A 10 hour bus ride there was actually not so bad...team bus is pretty nice and I got some reading done which I haven't had much time for until then.

Come to find out that Justin Marshall (ex-All Black scrumhalf) just signed with Montpellier and I met him in our hotel (he's living there until he and his family find a home). I've admired him as a player for years so was special for me to have a nice conversation with him and then play his new team later that night.

We had a motorcade ride to the stadium and played before about 10,000 people (in the 25,000 person stadium) for this 'pre-season' match! I guess it was my first realization that we are playing professional rugby in a 'rugby playing' continent. All in all, a great match though the score was not in our favor (49-14). I think, even for this top Italian team (Viadana), the magnitude of the atmosphere at the stadium took them a while to 'settle in their game'.

Looking forward to more matches abroad...

(the picture is from our first pre-season game here in Italy)