CHAMPIONS!!!


Our Reward

By Cherrybomb
June 9 2002

Does anybody in Gloucester have any nails left? I doubt it. Gloucester beat Bristol by a small amount due to the phenominal effort put in by the players spurred on by the travelling support. Gloucester won in the end 28-23, and were crowned "CHAMPIONS" It doesn't quite seem real. A tense game, that went down to the wire, and we won it. 20,000 odd Gloucester supporters made the journey to the headquarters of English rugby with flags, airhorns and their voices. And thank god I only have to type this review and not say it because I have no voice left!

Before the match Bristol played Wasps in the U21 final, and they were slaughtered by a much better Wasps team. Watch out for their full-back, Jon Hylton, he's one for the future. After that a bunch of not too ugly ladies gave us a dance, before three opera singing women gave us a tune and we all sang the national anthem. I think it really gets a game going when the whole crowd stands up and sings God Save The Queen.

Gloucester started the strongest, and Ludo put the first points on the board, like he has done so many times this season, by a kick from the half way line. The kick bounced off the crossbar and over, but it's not how it went over that counts. Ludo had too more chances, missing one from inside his own half, and putting the other over, leaving the score at 6-0.

Patrice Collazo then made a big mistake which could have changed the game, by wrapping his arm around the neck of Augustin Pichot, probably in order to cancel him out of the game, and received a yellow card. You would expect Bristol to take the advantage, but Henry Paul collected the ball in his own half, stormed up the wing and when he passed to Tom Beim, Phil Christophers unfairly hauled Beim to the ground before he had received the pass, and saw yellow himself. Contepomi kicked two penalties, but once Collazo was back on the field Gloucester stormed forward again, desperate for a try before half time, and it came through man of the match Jake Boer, who received the pass from Collazo and collapsed over the line. Ludo also kicked a penalty as well as the conversion to put the scores at 16-6 going in to half time.

Half time saw the mascot sevens, which, however much we say we hate it, was hilariously funny. Sale's Sharky got shown a large red card, but refused to leave the pitch. He later came back on. The match apparently ended in a draw, but no-one knows why or how. Newcastle's falcon seemed to have an unfair advantage, as the suit was tiny and hardly had any padding, making running easy.

Both teams came out after half time looking eager, but Bristol took the advantage when Pichot took a quick free kick and ran past a bewildered defence. From the replay it was clear that Pichot had taken the kick from in front of the mark, but the referee, a certain Roy Maybank, let it stand.

Ludo once again took Gloucester away from the snapping jaws of Bristol with two penalties, but Bristol were in it again after a mistake by Henry Paul. His poor kick went directly into touch and from the lineout, a clever move was finished off by Paul Johnstone. Contepomi converted, to make the score 22-20. Both fly half's kicked further penalties, but Mercier capped a fine season by finishing the match with another kick. For Gloucester fan's it felt like the final whistle would never come, but when it did the fans were in ecstasy, cheering for all the players after finally lifting some silverware.

One of the funniest moments of the day was when Junior Paramore slid in front of the Zurich banner and set himself up in a typical pose. Terry Fanolua was also ecstatic, ripping of his boots and throwing them into the crowd. He also took off his socks and gave then to a small boy who came racing out of the crowd to collect them. The youngsters are the future of Gloucester, and the future is bright, the future is cherry and white.

Bring on next season. Watch out Leicester. Gloucester are coming. And we're hungry.

YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

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