As the day went on, more and more England shirts were seen and naturally the banter began. My emotions went on a minute by minute basis from excited to nervous and back again. A couple of cheeky AG’s helped calm a few pre match nerves but not that much! Anyway let’s fast forward to the game and my observations.

England actually looked the better team in the 1^st 20 minutes, taking the game to the men in black. However from my seat what became painfully clear is that England’s defensive strategy needs some work. Too many times the All Blacks had overlaps and when you consider that London Irish play a blitz defence similar to the way Shaun Edwards coaches at Wasps and Wales, it became painfully clear why the RFU are interested in our own Brian Smith as backs coach. They need someone with some more ideas and it seems that the England coaching set up is very stale. It was this way of thinking that gave Topsy his first try as the instinct to press up quickly from the line helped him gather the ball and sprint 70m to touch down. It was also at this point that yours truly was jumping up and down like a mad man in the presence of 2000 kiwis but fair play to them once they realised who I was, they gave me the benefit of the doubt! Another observation was that it was a mistake not to play a certain Nick Kennedy as the England lineout stuttered on its own throw and I’m sure he would have given the All Blacks more to think about as well on their ball. Paicey should have been brought on much earlier as I believe he would have added some extra grunt and intensity but congrats to him on his first cap also. Pete Richards would have added more zip into the game so our boys could have made some difference. Many of you reading this would have seen the game or highlights and so I wont go into that in much detail however what I will say is this… the sooner that referees worldwide start penalising Richie McCaw more often, the better as I lost count the number of times he entered rucks from the side and handling the ball on the deck as well. Maybe Nigel Owens had forgotten he was supposed to be impartial! Funnily enough Topsy said exactly the same thing afterwards as well.

So all in all a disappointing result but a very happy pair of London Irish boys. I’m sure Nick is disappointed not to have been involved in this game but I am certain he will get his chance, hopefully in Christchurch. Now on to the All Black fans… everyone likes a bit of banter which is why we love the game. However the fans over here are a whole new breed of fan and unless you experience it, you wouldn’t believe it. Gracious in victory is a phrase I don’t think they have heard of here. It would be unfair of me though to pigeonhole all of them as I met some really good, knowledgeable rugby folk here who had a lot of good things to say. As the night wore on, myself, C Bass + Kat and few others managed to have a few drinks with the team afterwards and I must say that Joe Worsley is one of the nicest people you will meet, I have a lot of time and a new found respect for him. However I did get a lot of stick about an article that appeared in the Sun during the week. I can categorically state that half of the article where I am quoted as comparing Topsy to Lewis Hamilton is complete dross! But it was rather amusing to hear the boys had been giving him stick all week about it. What are brothers for eh!?!?

So onto Christchurch and the 2^nd test. All of us here are sporting some mighty hangovers but it was worth every moment and a day that we wont forget in a hurry.

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