London Welsh 25 Sale Sharks 26


By Whaley Shark
February 19 2013

Dave Aitch took his camera to the Kassam on Sunday and has very kindly put this report together for us.......        






I'd not been on the Fun Bus before, and all this talk of luxury travel had me in a state of frenzy that only a win on the day could exceed. I booked my place. Heywood Road seemed a good starting point with its 9:20 pick-up. Having woken too early, and having too much time on my hands, I busied myself doing other things, missing my planned 8:00 start by more than fifteen minutes. However, travel is relatively easy at that time on a Sunday morning and I reached the Little B at dead on 9:00. There were several Little Bs and umpteen bottles already there.

Now, the Fun Bus was, Bull Shark assured me, to be "luxury travel". Salford Hire certainly did us proud.

LW1

The trip down was a mixture of a mystery tour, with all sorts of mysterious people joining, and smooth running. It was a mixture too of sausage rolls that filled the breakfast-lacking holes and Bucks Fizz that really was the biz.

LW2

 

We were all (well at least I was) relieved when Basque-ing joined at Walsall as he had the lunch vouchers which he dutifully handed out later. I don't know about anyone else but I couldn't work out whether I have paid the 20p internet booking fee for the lunch. (Basque-ing I hope your figures added up okay. It is usually par for the course that organising something of this sort costs you money.)

 

LW3

The Crown Inn, Brackley, was reached at about twenty past twelve. H's D was quicker off the mark than most and he had almost finished his eats before we even got in the queue. Others also managed a quicker meal with more time for drinks. Bull Shark seemed at ease at the bar while Tigger enjoyed a pint in the sun. Meanwhile we queued and queued. As someone pointed out to the chef, a sharper knife would have speeded things up.

LW5

 

Lunch finished, it was back on the bus for the half hour run to the Kassam.

LW6

 

The Kassam has three good sides to it, but they appear to have forgotten that a rectangle has four sides, and the one end of the pitch is open but for a big screen.

LW7

We got into the stadium just in time to catch the end of the pre-match warm-up. Is it just by chance that on our on-pitch presence seems to have improved with the arrival of Dan Braid? He must indeed be our secret weapon: I can't find him on the players' photo page of the “offy”. 

LW8

BanksShark practises waving his flag before the match starts.

LW9

The highlight of the first half was the last play with a try from Will Cliff. Danny Cipriani had a couple of hands in it – and fortunately no boot. Do you think we could ban him from kicking in open play? He looks so much better when he runs the ball.

LW10

Half time was on us, Welsh 12-13 Sale, and a few of the rowdy Sale supporters were picked out to fill the big screen.

LW11

Sale started well, scoring another good try, which I couldn't get a decent photo of. It was those blessed flags I'm afraid. You might spot the back view of two who featured on the big screen.

LW12

A good try then came from London Welsh. A nicely timed pass from Gavin Henson and Welsh were back in front 22-20, I think. One of the disadvantages of taking photos is that there is a tendency to lose track of what's going on score-wise.

LW13

LW14

LW15

 

Those final minutes were tense.

 

LW16

 

Welsh went close again

 

LW17

and Steve Diamond paced round the pitch, no doubt to relieve the tension.

LW18

A further penalty by Welsh was more than cancelled out by two from Sale, the second of which was from Nick Macleod. Final score London Welsh 25-26 Sale. Cue the flags, again,

LW19

and applause by the team and for the team.

LW20

While many of you enjoyed a cider at the local hostelry, I had other things to sort out. I did manage a photo or two. Do you think we could do a swap for Swanny?

LW21

Then it was back on the coach. WiganSaler checked in with iBozz,

LW22

bought a draw ticket off Dee (Dee is wearing neither hat nor beard.)

LW23

....and won a prize in the draw, which he immediately modelled for the camera.

LW24

The rest of the trip was uneventful other than the driver missing the Stafford turn off, and then having to double back. The result of all this was that H's D missed the last train home and had to take a £20 taxi ride but it mattered not a jot to him, such was the enjoyment of the day. As for me, I got home somewhere around 10:30 tired but happy. Actually that’s not true; I wasn't really tired.

What a great day out that was. The organisers, players and, indeed, everyone who went and made such a big noise should take a bow.


 

 

 

 

Bookmark or share this story with: