By BrianC
March 23 2006

Who would have believed it? We're three quarters of the way through the season. Our St. Patrick's day fixture beckons and it's a top of the table clash. Third plays first as London Irish take on Sale at the Madejski on Saturday.

At London Irish we traditionally have two big home games a season. The match at Christmas and/or New Year and our Saint Patrick's one. Here I use the word 'traditionally' with tongue placed firmly in cheek because it is in fact only in recent years, with us having the room to grow and through astute marketing, that these have emerged as major events. Whilst our St Patrick's game always packed Sunbury it should be remembered that our first such game at the Madejski, against Northampton in 2001, attracted a gate of 'only' just over twelve thousand.

The times they are a'changin. Five years on, as I write this, the East stand is sold out, the West pretty well so. Ticket sales in the South stand must be going well because the North stand is now open. The gate will be a very large one. People have come to learn that there is a party going on. Build it and they will come.

A question many of us are asking is will we beat our club, and the premiership, record of 20840 souls set at our St Patrick's game against Bath a couple of years ago. At this stage I'd say yes. There is a very good chance I will be parting with two tenners to AlecW and JamesC come the end of the season. So much for all that time spent gathering and analysing statistics!!

One unfortunate feature of these big games in recent years is that, having attracted the large crowds, we have invariably lost in front of them. The last time we won either one of these big showcase games was four years ago, our fixture against Bristol which was incidentally the inspiration behind the "St Patrick's Day Massacre" track on the 2002 London Irish CD.

Whatever, those who are visiting us should expect all the problems that come with a busy day at the stadium. There will be traffic jams of inordinate proportions. There is no parking left at the ground. The catering and services will be stretched to breaking point. The message is, come early and don't try to get away in a hurry. The party starts early and finishes late, why would you want to?

The words "stage fright" have been used on the messageboard to describe the inability of ours to win in front of large crowds. It does seem appropriate. If anything, this has been our season for turning tradition on its head. Who would have thought that we would have beaten both Bath and Gloucester on their hallowed home turf? Who, in their right mind, would have placed us so high in the table at this stage of the season?

Sale are no slouches. Their league position testifies to that fact. Can we overturn our poor record in big games against them? You bet we can!