Rugby World Cup 2015: Fiji made to feel at home in Cardiff but the Wallabies still win ... at a cost

MIKE Colman finds himself outnumbered and out of pocket as the Wallabies World Cup odyssey begins in a Cardiff cauldron that felt like ‘Twickers in Suva’.

CARDIFF, WALES - SEPTEMBER 23: Israel Folau of Australia jumps for the ball with Metuisela Talebula and Asaeli Tikoirotuma of Fiji during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between Australia and Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on September 23, 2015 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Welcome to the first instalment of Rugby World Cup: From the Cheap Seats.

Now, first off, can we please change the name?

There’s nothing cheap at this Rugby World Cup, especially if you are paying in Australian dollars. Right now our exchange rate is slightly less than the Botswana Pula, which is about two goats to the pound.

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I paid the equivalent of $20 for a programme and $13 for a hot dog and a bottle of Coke. And that’s nothing. A seat to the Wallabies-Wales game has set me back 500 bucks.

The Millennium Stadium crowd was, for the most part, backing Fiji.

This game against Fiji cost $170 and that was for standing room only. Well, not really standing room only, but my seat was on the end of the row and I spent so much time getting up to let people in and out to sit, buy beers and go to the toilet, that it might as well have been. Saved a lot of effort for the Mexican Wave though. Every time it came around I was already up and ready.

PODCAST: Mike Colman has his say on the Wallabies’ scrappy win over Fiji.

I must say it was a strange experience being at Millennium Stadium, the cathedral of Welsh rugby, and not watching the boyos in scarlet running around.

Stranger still not to be humming along to the brass band and men’s choir before kick-off. There was an upside though. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Australia play there and not get smashed in the National Anthems.

Not that Fiji was without support. Far from it. When the on-field commentator asked, “Any Fijians here?” the roar nearly lifted the roof. Funny thing that. When I looked around, all I could see was white faces with stick-on palm tree tattoos glued to their cheeks — or in the case of one follicley challenged gentleman, his shiny scalp.

Seemed to me the majority of the big crowd of 67,253 might have been anti-Australian rather than pro-Fijian, a suspicion that grew when about 50,000 of them broke into the English battle-song of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” as the Fijians threatened late in the second half.

And when Fiji fly-half Volavola burst through a big holahola to score, you could almost have been in Suva. If they had a stadium big enough to fit 67,253 people in Suva that is.

Not that the Aussies were concerned in the least. They shut out all the distractions and just kept doing what they do best: dropping ball, losing their own lineouts and kicking out on the full.

Too harsh? No question. There were some good signs for the Wallabies. Israel Folau was full of running, the scrum was strong and coach Michael Cheika’s gamble of playing both his open-side flankers Michael Hooper and David Pocock resulted in two converted tries — or, as a mathematician would put it, the two sevens added up to 14.

Besides, anyone who has watched a Rugby World Cup knows that winning teams inevitably start out slow and build to a crescendo, sort of like the Fijian pre-game war dance.

It was sensational. Or so I assume. The bloke in front of me stood up and totally blocked my view so that he could film the whole thing on his iPhone. I should have asked him to text me a copy.

Better still, at $170 for the cheap seats, Rugby World Cup Ltd should have included it in the price of the ticket.

Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: Fiji made to feel at home in Cardiff but the Wallabies still win ... at a cost