(LKR is otherwise known as the pessimist who hasn’t predicted an Irish win yet this season, but says she may do for Leeds at the Madstad!!)

We arrived in Gloucester around lunch time and while seeking a parking space Dan said “We should make notes on parking spaces and food for the message board” This reminded me that I had agreed to do the match report. Unfortunately, it was too late to find paper and pen and the mobile was running out of charge so I decided to watch the game and then generate the report on the facts using the Sky coverage. The voice of reason said “Won’t want to watch this game again. We’re going to lose!”

After a quick wander around the town we head up to the stadium and find the players entrance to the new stand. (It’s quite nice, but why would you build a modern stand with thick steel posts half way back. About ½ the seats must have restricted views so remember on future visits not to take seats above about row S!) We watched the last 10 minutes of Ireland v Wales through a glass door as the plan was to wait outside to greet the team however the rain was getting stronger so we decided to go into the ground to watch Scotland v England 1^st half (Played in a gale with England not managing to control the ball, (A taste of thing to come?)

At half time with England losing we moved out to the pitch and on to the west terrace to watch the team warm up, heavy drizzle was being blown down the pitch from behind us and both Eoghan and Peter seemed to be having trouble kicking at the posts (would we miss this side of Delon’s game?). The wind was good news from the spectators point of view as at least the gale was stopping the West terrace getting too wet and surely a strong wind would be the same for both teams across the 80 minutes?

Now to the game. For any Gloucester readers remember we had no D Armitage, Coetzee, Corbisiero and Fisher (both with the England under 20’s), Geraghty, Hodgson (sitting on bench at Murrayfield watching England lose) Hudson, Kennedy, Mordt and Richards available.

Glaws kick off was cleared into the gale by Catt and Irish won the first overthrown line out. Glaws  kickrd out on the full and infringed at the line out giving Irish a long range penalty that on a calm day would have been kickable but we turned it down and went for the corner. Again Glaws infringed, not allowing Roche back to the ground and Peter went for a kick which missed right. (The booing of kickers which has been much commented on recently seemed worse at Glaws than it has been at the Madstad and was again young voices from an area of the ground where the local clubs’ kids were sitting.)

From the restart there was a kicking exchange where one kick from Peter Hewat (on Sky’s replay) seemed to have gone out but was allowed to continue. Faan infringed at a scrum and Glaws kicked deep into our 22. Their pack drove to towards the line and a penalty was indicated, Walker tried a chip through which came off Maps’s knee and bounced into the hands of Wood who drove over from 5 yards. (David Rose was heard on Sky to say to Wood “You won’t get a luckier one than that will you?”  Well we shall see!) 7-0

A chip through was touched in flight and the mark not awarded, Peter chip kicked straight to Bailey who hit a long ball into the 22. As I paused the Sky plus to write this bit - Irish had 3 players back and the ball had bounced high and Juan would take it and clear? But no, the ball took a hard bounce to the left and instead of falling on it Juan decided he was playing for Portsmouth or Barnsley in the FA cup quarter finals. He flicked the ball round the corner into the path of Adam’s who kicked through off the post which slowed the ball down. He flung himself at the ball which should have gone dead and a try was awarded immediately with no reference to the 4^th official. 14-0 after 12 minutes

A small altercation led to a long explanation from Mr Rose and a penalty reversal gave us the advantage, Catt kicked to touch and when a penalty was awarded for in at the side Peter Hewat kicked us on to the board. 14 – 3

At this point I missed about 5 minutes of the game as Dan had decided that in the 23rd minute we had gone from the best to worse side in the country, we were going to lose by about 60 points and would never score a try. So I had to focus on cheering him up with a trip to the burger van (sorry Dan, I ate all the chips!) As the headline says, in future “Son, don’t believe everything you read on message boards.” However, with a bit of luck at this stage we could have been 0 – 3 up not 21 – 3 down and the whole game could have been different.

A fight took place off the ball between both hookers but all 3 officials were following the ball and missed it. (Sky’s replay showed a Glaws player kicking Paice which David took exception to. (Hope the citing commissioner is feeling generous otherwise James Clark may be looking at a debut next week) The original penalty stood and Glaws took the 3. 24-3 (or 3-3 on a lucky day!)

Ref Rose awarded Irish a penalty and went for his pocket saying it was for not moving away “I’ve had enough of this” he said (Number 3 was going to the bin) Another skirmish broke out and he decided to bin Azam because the fight was worse than the not rolling away. Maybe we need another “meet the ref” to understand why only one yellow was issued not two? Irish take the 3 (24 - 6)

Irish dominated the last 4 minutes after a Catt break from the 22 but couldn’t get across the line. Despite more “red zone” penalties from Glaws players no cards were issued! Irish took a scrum when they might have gone for a 5 metre line out. Following a few resets time ran out when Fury went for the line and was held up. Mr Rose quickly blew for half time! 

Half time weather report: The wind was dropping and we were starting to get wet. It was also turning and was almost side on blowing at the Shed. During the second half the wind continued to turn and was blowing into our faces by the end. Oh and it stopped raining with 3 minutes to go!

Glaws had a phase on attacking but threw the ball straight to Topsy who took it 70 metres for his first try of the season. Hewat missed the conversion which was not too difficult (24 – 14) Following the restart Tiesi and Adams clashed heads causing Adams to leave the field with blood pouring from his nose. A penalty was awarded to Glaws who missed. Two subs for Irish – Danahar and Dermody came on for Thorpe and Murphy (Are we allowed 3 overseas players at one time during an international window?)

Irish took a quick throw which turned out to be a throw to Gloucester and after we had made a break to the line it is called back. Glaws got another kickable penalty due to Irish holding (27 – 14) Despite the rain the ground staff brought on buckets of water to wash away the blood from Adams’ injury!

Tonga was penalised for pulling down and 10 metres given away due to players talking to the ref. A few phases later Maps received the ball near half way and kicked it straight out, seem to remember that happening at the last game and not sure that he is a kicker. Catty sliced a kick (maybe it’s catching) that went straight to Ojo but no break was possible. Catt then took a mark and nearly knocked on and cleared.  From the line out Glaws rolled the ball towards our line. Paice appeared to ride on the maul, he brought it down and lay on the ball. Mr Rose got his cards out and showed Paice a yellow with his right hand and pointed to the dug-out with the red card in his left hand! Some of us thought he had been given both.

7 minutes to go, 2 scores down and one player down the game was all but over,especially as the bonus point try was scored almost immediately with a driven over try given by the TMO after the “Any reason why I can’t award a try?” question when the ball was completely hidden. Bob can be heard on the video “guaranteeing” Mr Rose that it wasn’t a try because he felt it couldn’t be seen. Walker kicked the conversion to take the score to (34 – 14). Catt went down and left the field bleeding from his nose nearly as heavily as Adams had earlier, having been caught by Hazell’s loose arm. Glaws took the ball down the field and missed a penalty to bring the game to an end. The team were obviously disappointed but acknowledged the away support before we all left for home.

In summary, if we had had some luck in the first half we could have come away with the points or at least the bonus point. However having just got home in the last two games by 1 and 3 points we were probably due to just lose a game but from this reporter’s perspective the final score flattered Gloucester and with a bit of luck we could have at least got a single point. Let’s hope this doesn’t end up being crucial at the end of the season!

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