The Chiefs form hadn’t been too hot and when the nutso buildup to our second Amlin Cup game vs the Geordies led to the Falcons winning that game with a last second penalty, well, that certainly didn’t do our hopes of reaching the quarter finals any good. Neither did the Falcons getting beaten by Montpellier. That turned Bourgoin’s visit to Sandy Park into a must-win game.

Well if we have to be put into a must win situation, it might as well be against the team that had become the dead-men walking of the Super 14 who we’d already beaten on their turf – and we weren’t meant to do that! Our starting XV certainly looked strong enough to take care of business, so having failed to make the Leicester Premiership game due to tickets having sold out way too quickly(and then being uncertain whether I’d actually be in town on the 2nd) this was my first trip to Sandy Park in 2011.

So, off to the bus stop sans missing Chiefs hat, held the bus up for my grandfather to get on and off we go. Evening matches are slightly wierd, I’m not sure whether it was Sky Sports idea for the late kick off or what. Whatever. Evening kickoff just meant grabbing a Hog Roll(munched when sitting in an empty Karrimore – how do they stuff that much meat into those things?) then a pint. Then we were ready to rumble.

Well sort of rumble. Bourgoin proved to be much tougher to break down than expected and Ryan missing his opening pen wasn’t in the script. At times I swear I was the loudest guy in the Karrimore and in the meantime we certainly did get a lot of action down our end but somehow we didn’t get the ball over the tryline. Well we did but the ball wasn’t exactly secure therefore no try. After a very nice long range effort from Ryan our kicker finally got a penalty over at the third attempt. At least we came in at half time with ‘a’ lead.
So it was off to the Buffalo Bar for another pint and then dodging half the stewards who were steaming out of the West Stand with a presumably dodgy geezer in tow. I just about got back to the Karrimore before the second half started and just about saw Johnson running in for a try from the opposite corner of the pitch. Davis did the honours with the conversion.
After that though it was still very much Bourgoin giving us the rougher ride. Hell if I know where they were getting that sort of form from, probably the fact that they just didn’t have anything to lose. We got away with just conceding two Alberto di Bernardo pens. It could have been a lot worse.

As it was, before the end of the match we saw Neil Clark’s comeback and then Steeno get a run out. Then despite all the Bourgoin pressure it was the Chiefs who wound up having the last word with Arscott setting up a try for Tui and Steeno grabbing the extras.

Mission accomplished. The Chiefs still have something to play for in Montpellier. Winning that match may prove easier said than done. Fact is though, we are still involved in the rumble that will decide Pool 3. Only one thing to do now guys.
Full steam ahead.