Neither, I can assure you, designed to make match reporting any easier.

Faced with the choice of trying to memorise every detail and the minute at which it happened or kind of summarising the whole shebang, I’ve gone with the latter. As a consolation prize, I will add on a bit about the post-match activities…

So we arrived at the ground in time to see Delon making his way to the pitch where some of the LI squad were playing ball, I can only assume a proper warm up was done away from prying eyes. As Delon gave one of his trademark smiles, I extended a charming greeting to him, something along the lines of “you better win today” which he responded to with yet another trademark smile. We watched the team for a while and noted that Barry had his kicking boots on which was mildly consoling.

Anyhar, after making our way to the luxurious facilities afforded in the south stand we hooked up with the rest of the travelling support (well those that hadn’t gone posh with covered seating) and rejoiced that the promised sleet/snow/rain had failed to arrive. I will confess that I believed the weather would be the high point of the day, so convinced was I of a right drubbing. Shows what I know!

As we took our seats I said to Himself that I thought Pearson had been OK for us the last time we were blessed with him; Himself looked at me like I was several sandwiches short of the proverbial picnic (but you get used to that after a time).

As for the match, all I can say is that if we had started as we meant to go on then the result would have been a little different. The first ten minutes were desperate and in fact reminded me of 1st year drama lessons - when we were told to act out single words. Yesterday, the word was ‘panic’. I think something must have clicked with the team after Barry had attempted a drop goal, which went wide. The desire to get ahead of the other side was so great that focus was quite obviously being sacrificed. Thankfully, the same was also true of the Queenly ones.

I think Arwel Thomas was the first to slot over a penalty giving Quins first blood, but not for long as they themselves conceded a penalty shortly after, which Barry took with relish to level the scores.

Delon found himself in space with the ball in his hands as he came charging towards the LI contingent in the lower south west corner of the ground only for Monye to most unfairly nudge him across the whitewash. It was so, so cruel for the support to be able to taste the try only to have it ripped from them. Was this to be a continuation of our fortune with The White Line?

Not if our team could help it! Only minutes later Delon again found himself the lucky recipient of a good ball with the space and drive to ensure ball and grass made contact (with downward pressure) on the scoring side of the line. The travelling support went wild. And one of us went down – literally. The south stand decided that enthusiastic supporters were not to be encouraged so collapsed taking one of our supporters with it. To the lady concerned, I hope you are none the worse for your unexpected trip down under and that you managed to enjoy the rest of the day.

Barry converted the try to give us a most satisfactory score line of 3-10. Not for long though. Pearson who, it has to be said, is not living up to my expectations but seems to be meeting those of Himself, awards a penalty against Irish. Thomas duly obliges to make the score 6-10.

A further penalty for the Queenly Thomas saw the score 9-10 just a couple of minutes before half time and that was how the first half ended.

The on-pitch entertainment at half time was absolutely blinding. A team of police dogs and their handlers where demonstrating their burglar/gunman catching techniques. The initial outrage at the first ‘burglar’ being clothed in an LI shirt was soon laughed off as a whole range of recognisable shirts were bought to their knees or faces by extremely focused dogs thoroughly enjoying what they were doing. Some of them to such an extent that they had to be allowed to carry the arm padding off the field as they weren’t prepared to relinquish it. It was remarked upon that there wasn’t a Quins shirt among the ‘baddies’, must have been an oversight…

The second part of the exercise saw the same baddies armed with various firearms, which they were required to shoot as the key for the dog to go. Again the dogs were astounding, although the sawn-off shotgun looked a little alarming (and close) for my liking. Fantastic half time entertainment!

Within minutes of the players coming back on to the pitch Thomas had kicked Quins back into the lead with another penalty. Now I will confess I wasn’t best placed to see all the play but Mr Pearson seemed to be worsening. I know I’m not alone in thinking this as the number of complaints flying around was increasing in number, volume and ‘language’. The team we’ve seen in the Irish shirts of late might have allowed this to deflate them a bit but not yesterday. Oh no. A sweet ball from Bob to Stan was passed back to Bob who majestically grounded it nicely behind the Quins line. The travelling support went berserk and Barry converted to restore the Irish lead 12-17.

And, I think I have to clarify that this came in the third quarter. You know, the one where we seem to lose it time and time again. Well not this time. No way Jose!!

Mike Catt was replaced by Tofty after sustaining what looked like a knee injury. Let’s hope it’s not a bad one and that he’ll be back in action soon.

Quins seemed to take advantage of the switch and although one of them was sent to the sin-bin shortly afterwards, they found themselves in a good attacking position only yards from our line. The first attempt was thwarted and with some strange reffing (I do believe Mr Pearson was outed as a ‘twit’ or something sounding a little like that) a second attempt was made. A pass (so far forward it isn’t due to arrive until Thursday) arrived in the hands of Monye who touched it down. Pearson, grubby little man that he is, saw absolutely nothing wrong and awarded the 5 points. The Irish team were not happy. Mike H and Bob were giving it plenty of verbal to the visually challenged officials but nothing was done. Even the Quins supporters were stunned.

So there we were 17-17 with 17 minutes of the second half played. Thomas missing the conversion was small recompense to the highly aggrieved Irish support.

Another exchange of penalties saw the scores again levelled at 20-20 but still the Irish team fought and then, with around 30 minutes of the half played, Roland Reid gathered the ball from the base of an Irish scrum and powered a good 15-20 metres to touch down. The conversion attempt went wide on the wind so with the scores on 20-25 I was torn between hyperventilating and forgetting to breathe at all.

Never has a clock been so slow. Credit to our team for that last period, they kept their heads and forced play down into the quins half and there it pretty much stayed. The 7 minutes of injury time were absolute torture but the tension disappeared the moment the dozy plank with the whistle remembered to blow it.

The Irish supporters were ecstatic although a little hacked off with the Gloucester/Leeds result!

The whole team came out to applaud the supporters and the relief was evident on their faces too. Anyone who says they don’t care is so, so wrong. Whatever it is that they’ve lacked – be it the mindset or confidence or both stood up and got counted yesterday. Let’s hope it’s still there on 24 April.

For me Quins looked like the weaker side throughout. Their try should never have been awarded and they had some very lucky decisions. For Irish, Bob wasn’t just big, he was colossal and appeared to be aware of everything at all times. Roland Reid was also fantastic, not just for the try, which itself was a thing of great beauty, but for his power and agility. Delon had another great game and I thought Beefy had a cracking game too. Without a shadow of a doubt though, I’d give Mr Casey the Man of the Match.

With regards to the post-match activities, love ‘em or loathe ‘em, the Quins laid on a great band. I’ve never stayed long at the stoop before but we stayed for the music and were glad that we did. It was a great atmosphere with loads of both Quins and Irish supporters enjoying themselves. The Hotdogs (the band!) were smokin’ and handled Marie’s little hiccup with grace. Marie, for those who don’t know, took a slip on a wet floor and knocked herself out. She is however absolutely fine (sore head and bum) and managed to make her personality part of the A&E unit of the hospital. Doubt they’ll forget her in a hurry!

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

• Think you know your sport? Click here to try the Sportnetwork Prize Quizzes