My god. So hungover. The hangover of triumph will not wash away so easily, but my god it was worth it just to see such a superb 2nd half performance.
Me and IBB rolled into Watford town (now all encased in solid gold thanks to our new noble and proud South African overlords) and had a few pints at the usually packed Druids rugby pub (just down the road from Watford junction on the way to Vicarage Road. The stadium looked rather good with 9,000 odd in there, they do a much better job at making sure everyone is together in the West, South and Upper/Lower Rous stands and it impressed even the high standards of IBB (which basically consist of "for f***s sakes guys, quit the yapping and lets play some rugby!")
Anyway, play had already gotten underway but Saracens were suspiciously like how they were when they started against Viadana in Italy: edgy, flat and lethargic. Luckily for us, Biarritz were in no mood to play any rugby and opted mostly to kick when any serious runner could have made some damage. However, after a Saracens penalty resulted in Bizza taking a very quick restart, not even a 110 year old Great War veteran could have refused the opportunity to run and score a try...so it went and after a penalty against the men in black, Bizza were up 10 points to 3! Crazy!
So, things were looking a bit ominous but then again, the way Biarritz were playing we knew it wasn't rocket science and we realised that someone must have put on "Gay Bar" by Electric Six and made the men in black pole dance as punishment for their awful conduct because, like in Italy, Saracens came out with the fire in their eyes!
Brilliant play from here on. Biarritz kept trying to kick for touch but every time it was just coming back to Brent Russell or Neil de Kock who returned it with superb runs and offloads to the waiting arms of Hugh Vivvian and Chris Jack.
Jack was superb, absolutely legendary and the more I watch guys like him the more I realise what an
absolute scandal it is that all the praise and adulation in New Zealand is heaped on the backs while the forwards get bugger all credit. Seriously. Graham Henry spends years crafting a superbly balanced pack that can even send the shivers running up the Springboks and do they ever get any attention? Apart from Richie McCaw, no. Not a sausage and that
ain't right.
Anyway, I could go on about the tries, the breaks, the runs and how Saracens ran riot but I was too busy dancing around and growling in approval and this was possibly the first time the Saracens crowd have ever been so loud in approval as it sunk in that we had just booked a quarter final berth in the HEC. The players came back out and everyone just went wild. It was great, genius.
Afterwards it was back to druids where the 150 Bizza fans were and we all drank, sang and chewed the rugby fat. Some of the Saracens players turned up and we all drunkenly interrogated them on various things. I for one managed to find Saracens wizzy man and scourge of hair wax and perma-tanned wimp Percy Montgomery Dan Scarborough! Asking him about his crunching tackle on Percy the little engine who couldn't, (I think) he said:
How did I feel? Well it bloody hurt for a start![/b]
He said with a big grin, obviously, he didn't let modesty get in the way of enjoying putting away wussy toyboys and knocking the fake tan off of them!
Anyway, fantastic result, looking forward to the Quarter Final and teaching what for to whoever has the balls to come our way!
Saracens v Biarritz
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