THOUSANDS ENJOY RUGBY TWICKENHAM FEATURING AFRICAN DRUMS TOO...

Queues everywhere; as far as the I eye can see. Wheew the pulse  pulsates here.

Folks of all ages and colour and gender...Folks in queues.

Queues from and to the trains, queues get in and  out; queues to toilets and bars; queues for food and drinks and eating chips and  sweets and fried meat and walk into the Twickenham Stadium whose capacity is 82, 000.

Wheew...

Lots and lots and loads of people; dressed and decked up in monkey and gorilla costumes and well some, bring Teletubies to mind; it is all part of the fun- Rugby fun.

Then there is the music.

Well, beside the muscular players on the field that is- both entertainers of this Saturday May 11th, 2013.

 Music from various bands including ACD Arts (pictured below) employed by Marriotts Hotels- featuring master musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Mali , Burkina Faso, Italy- drumming and rocking and boom boom dadan  and drumming Africa.

Music and food and cheering all to soak into the Seven Series that has South Africans, Kenyans alongside New Zealand, Australia, United States, Canada  and of course the hosts- England.

Kenyans beat Canada 38-12 was whipped 31-17 and later won 31-19 against Wales. Kenyans have ended at number 5th amongst 21 nations- South Africans at number two ranking.  Not bad , not bad.

South Africans  had their victories against Australia (5-0), France (17-14) but lost 19-12 to the USA. You win some you lose some. Part of the game, rhythm of the game.

Rugby was invented hundreds of years ago but its rules which are so different from soccer were charted out by England in the 19th century.

In the UK women rugby is catching up and since 1970 - on the rise...

Among many great things about Rugby is how players have to address the Referee (Yes Sir no Sir), no hooliganism like that found in most football matches. It is said since the players rough it up so much on the field there is nothing else to match the pugilism outside. Makes sense...makes sense.

Lots of laughter and fun...here.

The Seven Series rounds across the globe so far : Australia (Oct 2012) Dubai (Nov 2012),  New Zealand (Feb 2013),  US (Feb 2013), Hong Kong (March 2013), Japan (March 2013), Scotland  and England (May 2013).

Love Train  band entertains crowd on Marriotts Hotels stage ...during the ongoing tournament

Pics and Words by Urban Pulse and Freddy Macha...