Woke up on Saturday morning in my hotel room in Twickenham physically and emotionally drained from the day before at the Women’s World Cup.
Physically drained from eight hours of acting as a proper media person covering four of the games and emotionally drained after the Irish girls tearful rendition of Ireland’s Call had taken me back to Lansdowne Road, January 99 and my own glassy eyed rendition of “We Are The Champions” as the boys went on their triumphant circuit of the pitch after the game.
Really felt for the girls with the one sided score line. They contributed so much to the game, only to find themselves outgunned up front by an impressive England team with their flanker Maggie “The Machine” Alphonsi absolutely immense. I must add that the composure, dignity and professionalism of all the girls from England, Ireland and the other teams, that I witnessed being interviewed, was very impressive as was the general standard of play throughout Day 1.
Special mention to Ireland’s captain Fiona Coghlan as she presented herself at the post match press conference with an ice compress trying to keep the swelling down where an impact in the tackle had knocked a tooth through her lip. One tough cookie, which I guess puts into perspective my grumbling about having to take a few photos throughout Friday so I’ll qualify it with Friday may have been tough, for an old man like me, but Saturday was going to get even tougher – for entirely all the wrong reasons!
The day trippers arrived just before eleven and we set off to meet up with our Harlequins mates Joe and Joe Junior for a late, or maybe early, brunch. By the time we actually got round to eating it was nearer one o’clock but the damage had already been done in the first two hours!
Time had drifted on and we were in a bit of a rush to get to the ground but we’d also to find the members of the Ireland’s Women’s team who were being given a guided tour of Twickenham chip shops by team manager Physco! We eventually found them and handed over the comp tickets, generously donated by Mr’s Young, Davidson and McCrea and got to the game just in time for kick off.
Imagine our disappointment to find that the only seats available by this stage were in the general proximity of Holywood Mike and his progeny, who really do need to find some new chants! However the game kicked off and thankfully there was enough going on on the pitch to keep us entertained.
The game itself was a useful enough work out for the young Ulster side who will have got more out of the game than Quins who looked decidedly devoid of ideas.
None of the youngsters had a disaster and they all had a bit of a run with ball in hand against a first string Quins side who, contrary to other reports, were going for it big style.
Muller and Wannenburg put themselves about but were outgunned up front and this, combined with some dodgy enough refereeing, didn’t give the backs much to work off. The youngsters all stood up well to a barrage of attacks but then Quins themselves showed little imagination with ball in hand choosing to try to blast their way over more often than not.
McIlwaine did well at full back showing great composure and Gilroy and Spence both got runs. Porter linked well with O’Connor and O’Connor does look a better player when he is forced to play a faster game making good use of what little ball came his way. Star player was Ian Whitten who snuffed out a lot of Quins moves with his storming defensive display.
Caught up with the Ireland girls after the match who were all game for some photos with the Ulster players with Robbie Diack and Bryan Young proving particularly popular! It was also good to see Ali Donnelly take time out of her horrendously busy schedule to pop along to say hello and if you want to read more about the Women’s World Cup or about Women’s Rugby in general check out Ali’s site at www.ScrumQueens.com.
Suffise to say the rest of the evening was a bit of a blur but we did have a good time at Sally’s 40th Birthday Party at the Cabbage Patch later that night!
Ulster: David McIlwaine, Craig Gilroy, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Niall O’Connor, Ian Porter, Bryan Young, Andi Kyriacou, Declan Fitzpatrick, Johann Muller, Ryan Caldwell, Pedrie Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, Robbie Diack. Replacements: Nigel Brady, Paul Karrayannis, Adam Macklin, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Michael Heaney, Ian Humphreys, Luke Marshall, Jonny Shiels, Mark McCrea
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3 Responses to “View from the Stand. Harlequins 24 Ulster 0.”
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Good to see that Joe jnr has progressed from the ‘shandy’ to a real drink. Looks as if youse had a good old time as usual . I see from the pics that youny Anno made it too.
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Yes Junty you are right. But the Joe’s were retired early! Even before the Raven did his usual runner!
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If antthing i think we had more variety than usual, such as …………
One B in blood, there’s only one B in blood etc
Same old Harlequins, always bleeding etc
Tom Tom give us a wave
Tom Tom give us a wink
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