Exeter Chiefs
TJ Scores Again
Big Chief
By Bog Chief
June 10 2011
TJ scores again Franklin’s Gardens – The day started well with a shout
of “Exeter Chiefs!” we looked around to see two of the stewards smiling and
they explained that they were playing Premiership club spotting and we were the
first Chief’s shirts they had seen. This of course started us on the same game,
soon spotting plenty of Saint’s shirts obviously but there were one or two
Tiger’s, Glaws, London Irish, Quin’s, Wasp’s, Sarrie’s , Wuss and even a
smattering of Bedford!
Tickets were £20 each and this covered
the 2 games, Italy “A” Vs Canada
and of course the days highlight Saxon’s Vs USA. Seating was unrestricted so it
was nice to be able to choose where to sit. We sat halfway up the Tetley Stand
on the Shubbery 22 line. The sun was shining and FG was filling
nicely in the slightly windy conditions. Fortunately, the weather was kind to
us, (unlike my last visit in Nat 1 when a snow storm obliterated the other end
of the pitch for 3 or 4 minutes!) to the extent that several people sat lower
in the Tetley’s stand actually moved higher to get in the shade as the sun was
proving a bit too strong.
I was sure that Italy “A” would win
the first game and by halftime it appeared that my bet was pretty safe even
though the first 40 minutes seemed a bit muted and the teams seemed quite
evenly matched. Canada, however must have taken a look at the Chief’s home game
against Saint’s video during the break and came out like a team possessed and
went on to a well deserved win.
There was a 40 minute break before
the main game so we had a wander into the village area at the back of the
Burrda stand for a beer. The atmosphere was almost party like in the sun and
everyone was obviously enjoying the day. As we returned to our seats, TJ and
the rest of the team were warming up.
After the Anthems, the game started badly for
the Saxon’s with the USA
getting the first points on the board with a penalty, fortunately it would be
awhile before they added to this as TJ and the boys had other ideas! There was
a worrying moment for us about 13 minutes into the game when TJ went down
holding his left knee and the physio ran out and started stretching and manipulating his
leg. After a minute or so of holding our breath TJ was up and back in the game!
I won’t give a blow by blow account of the game other than to say the most of
the Saxon’s tries were down the wings where the USA seemed very, very poor in
defence with large gaps appearing almost like buses.
TJ’s try in the second half
however, was something a little different as he ran down the centre, slipped a
tackle or two to score one of the best (if not the best) try of the game. Ever
businesslike TJ played his usual fast paced game and seemed to be at every
breakdown supporting the rest of the team, having a hand in setting up at least
two other tries and certainly put himself in the spotlight for future honours
in the near future. I even overheard several other supporters discussing TJ
“That Johnson fella from Chiefs has certainly been in the spotlight today
and done himself a few favours”. I must
admit to a quick glance over my shoulder and smiling at this point!
A bit later on, the announcer who
had kept fairly quiet all afternoon, made the following announcement during a
break in play “ For those of you who are interested, Switzerland 2, England
(Long pause) 1” to which a huge cheer went up, this was followed by “I didn’t
realise we had so many Swiss supporters here today”. The whole day was very
light hearted and this announcement plus a few more in a similar vein kept the
party spirit going.
The whole experience was great and
certainly one of pride when one of our own is playing in the famous white
shirt. If you get the opportunity to see any of the other games, I would
thoroughly recommend it!
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10/06/2011 23:28
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Crowd at FG
TJ warms up
Anthems
TJ scores
Game Over
