The Australians had to be comforted this Sunday, September 29, and, luckily, the beer was in abundance in the Tokyo stadium, where they lost to the Welsh as part of Group D of the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Despite two tries in the second half by Dane Haylett-Petty and Michael Hooper, they could not make up the lead taken by their opponents to the intransigent defense.
For the first 40 minutes, the leek XV was illustrated by two tries by Hadleigh Parkes and Gareth Davies, but also by drops, including one signed Dan Biggar from the 35e second of game. At the end of this intense match and suspense, played with a humidity higher than 70%, the Welsh win (29-25)
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika did not appear panicked, just finding his team "Had given up too much in the first half". He and Captain Michael Hooper seemed a little dissatisfied with the refereeing of Frenchman Poite. Which would have had too much recourse to video arbitration, which "Did not help us", according to number 7 of the Wallabies, who will play, on October 5, against Uruguay.
On the side of the Welsh winners, who by this success have great chances to avoid New Zealand and England in the final stages, the coach, Warren Gatland, ruled that his team "Had grown up in meeting management"because this match "Was one of the hardest played for a long time". And the coach insist on the importance of recovery in the prospect of the meeting on October 9 against Fiji, probably revenge after their defeat against Uruguay.
A match watered with the beer in tribune
The meeting between Australians and Welsh interested France, which should find the first group in the quarterfinals. And for the record, thanks to their success, the Welsh end a series of five consecutive World Cup defeats against Australia, while paying a fine tribute to their captain, Alun Wyn Jones, who honored his 130e selection, a record.
Great reasons for Welsh fans to celebrate and honor an innovation from this World Cup. For the first time in the history of the competition, hostesses sell beer in the stadium bays, as is done in baseball games in Japan.
All in uniform, stamped in the colors of the World Cup partner, they carry a backpack that holds 40 cans and weighs 17 kg. "It's not too heavy, because the bag has been specifically designed for that. The problem is the opening of the cans. It hurts the fingers in the long run "explains one of the 307 salespeople employed for the Australia-Wales match, for which 62,000 cans were planned.
The ballet of these hostesses and their supply are provided by a small company … Australian Global Hospitality Group (GHG), specializing in the sale of food and beverages at major events.
Australia, also present for beer
In Japan, the production of the beverage from the world's second largest brewer is provided by the local brewer Kirin, which has planned to prepare 1.5 million liters for the entire competition, to be bottled in cans, bottled and bottled. pressure. Delivery to the stadium is carried out by the venerable Kokubu family house – created in 1712 in the Nihonbashi shopping area in Edo (formerly Tokyo).
The last step is therefore provided by GHG. The company was contacted in a hurry in February after the organizing committee realized that it was going to disaster, for lack of an adequate organization for the sale of beer. GHG had to find premises, create a structure before the month of June and learn to work in the complex universe of the Japanese distribution. "We are used to working in an emergency. For Rio Olympics, we were contacted in November of the previous year. We are very flexible, which makes things easier "explains the director, Peter Wright.
In fact, since the beginning of the competition, while the distribution of water and the sale of food have gone so far as to incite the organizers to accept that the public brings its food to the stadium, the beer has never missed, because, savor a good connoisseur of the sector, "GHG is able to accurately estimate needs, a unique know-how".
The calculation is done according to the matches. For South Africa-New Zealand, on September 21st, 75,000 cans were planned. For the now historic Japan-Ireland of September 28, there were 30,000 and for Australia-Wales, 62,000 because, as Mr. Wright said, "With the Irish, and although we were a little surprised by the consumption of Americans, the Welsh are among the biggest consumers". Especially when they win.
