By tjs10
December 9 2003

Saturday 18th October 2003, 2:45pm, European Suite, Welford Road....... .... England have just beaten South Africa in a World Cup pool game to lead their group & seemingly book their place in the Quarter Finals.
“Some Tigers went to a land down under,
Webb Ellis glowed and the English plundered!”


50-60 Tigers fans stand relieved, having almost faced the possibility that they were travelling half way around the world to watch South Africa vs Wales.


Wednesday, 5th November 2003.
Many of these same Tigers fans climb on board the 1st team bus bound for Heathrow Terminal 4, Australia and then ultimately the Rugby World Cup Final. The Champagne was flowing on the journey down and upon arrival at the airport, Mad Hatter (who made his own way there) clearly felt he had to catch up & spent most, if not all of the following 22 hours, not only catching up, but passing and indeed lapping us on the booze intake! So much so in fact that 2 customs sniffer dogs were reported to have passed out due to the fumes at Brisbane baggage reclaim. No surprise then who was singled out for a bag inspection before joining us on the coach to the hotel…

Upon arriving at the Brisbane Hilton we were all quite surprised to find that it was also the hotel that the England team and most of the English media were staying in. A nice (though unplanned) addition to the tour for us, though maybe not for the team!

Brisbane was a friendly city and not as stereotypically “Australian” in its style as Sydney. Because Brisbane also played host to the Scotland v Australia QF, there were plenty English, Welsh & Scots in the bars along the river.

A party atmosphere, Australian bar staff & lots of Brits drinking and the odd tourist? Were we in Australia or Covent Garden?

Tallbird & myself spent some of the weekend before the match molesting small creatures at the Koala Sanctuary, while Mad Hatter spent the time…drinking.

Match day (Sunday) soon arrived the atmosphere in Camp Tigers was positive, after all, Wales couldn’t play like they did against New Zealand two weeks in a row could they? Gullivers put on a “Big Pub” downstairs in the hotel for all its supporters & the beer was certainly flowing pre-match.

As we cheered the England team out of the hotel & onto their coach, we were in high spirits and the walk to the ground an hour later echoed to the repetitive singing of Swing Low. (One day people will learn the second verse…)

Even from behind the posts the view of the match was good but unfortunately England’s first half performance was not. The 2003 World Cup didn’t throw up many surprises but the second half of the quarter final did: Mike Catt. His second half saving of England’s World Cup campaign even led me to utter words I never thought I’d hear myself say: “Thank God that Mike Catt was selected for England!”

Back at the hotel, the feeling in the Big Pub was as much relief as it was celebration after the comeback but the England players got a rousing reception as they walked through the throngs of supporters to drop off their kit.

Once the melee downstairs had died down & fans went back to their own hotels, some of us retreated up to the lobby bar to continue where we had left off, only to be joined soon after by around 20 of the England squad & management (+ wives/girlfriends) and about an hour later, by Prince Harry. A new game was then created called “Spot the Royal Protection Officer” Admittedly it wasn’t the hardest game in the world to play given that the bar at that time consisted of dozens of people in England shirts drinking beer and wine, 20 or so England players, 20 or so partners of England players, one member of the Royal Family and 6 of 7 men in shirts and ties, wearing earpieces & drinking soft drinks…

Now I know our tour was led by ex-players such as Matt & Jimmy but when the Team checked out the next morning, the hotel disabled all of our room keys as they thought we were with the squad and had checked out as well. Luckily this was soon rectified and we weren’t forced to sleep on the streets the following night.

A special thank you should go to George Chuter, Josh & the other lads in Life for letting us know the score in the Wasps game on Sunday morning. One advantage of going to Australia with Tigers was that we were able to get all of the scores almost straight after the final whistle. When he went down to reception the morning after the match, Will Greenwood was spotted at the Tigers noticeboard checking out our result. Once a Tiger, always a Tiger.

Monday & Tigers had arranged a Paddle Cruise down the Brisbane river for everyone. As most of the people on tour met in reception at 11 am either hung over, tired or with a sore throat, who should we see sitting down in the lobby, bottle of wine already open? The Hat Pack! Anyone notice a trend forming?

The cruise up and down the river gave us a final chance to see Brisbane, to talk about the previous night’s game and to discuss the Semi against France. It also gave Mad Hatter the chance to carry on drinking but that goes without saying!

By this time, everyone was getting to know each other well & new friendships were forming. Therefore now wasn’t really the time to split the group in two but that’s exactly what happened. The youngsters of Tigers 1 drove off with Jimmy O to the party capital of Australia, Surfers Paradise for beer, adrenaline and Wet & Wild, while the more “senior” people in Tigers 2 flew to Cairns with Matt for the Great Barrier Reef, relaxation & early nights with mugs of Horlicks…


Part 2 of the Tigers Tour Down Under (Surfers to Celebrations) will follow when I next get the chance to write it!