The day was to be the first Zippie game to be played in front of the new East stand, which has increased the capacity to 13,000. This caused the LI travelling support to be flung in to turmoil as to where we will amass our ranks. The results was that we were fragmented, having small pockets all over the ground. It must also be mentioned that a Gloucester steward took offence to balloons being brought in to the ground. They not only hate drums, they have an aversion to balloons! It was also to be Alex Brown’s 82nd consecutive league appearance, truly amazing stat in modern day rugby.

Having arrived in the bar to lubricate the vocal cords, we sent a 13 year old Gloucester fan, Emily, to hold spaces for us in the Tump end of the Shed. GMC_LI noted that the pasties were of a good quality (£2) and the AG (£2.50) was cold and welcoming. We then took our reserved standing area to await the teams. During that wait, I heard the shed cheer Squeaky for the first time when the Barf v Falcons game update was announced over the PA.

Irish kicked off in the sunshine to a mighty cheer from the shed, and proceeded to do battle up front against the Gloucester pack. After only 3 minutes of pressure from our pack, referee Pearson, blew for offside and awarded a penalty to the boys in green. Everitt duly slotted to give us a 3-0 lead. From the re-start, Irish continued to press and after blatant crossing by Glaws, were awarded another penalty. This time the ‘Boot’ opted to seek the touchline. From the lineout, we applied good pressure and after a couple of phases, the ball was slung out from Digby to Everitt. He looked left and kicked a glorious cross field kick towards Garvey. Staniforth challenged the wee man, won it and offloaded to Appleford in the blink of an eye. Geoff crossed the try line unopposed to extend the lead to 8-0 after 7 minutes. A Glaws fan near us replaced his sun glasses with those of a cherry and white tint, before demanding a penalty for offside. Oh we love them in the shed! Barry slotted the conversion to give us a 10 point lead with under 10 minutes played.

The game re-started and so did the expected rain. The heavens opened causing all those in the new stand to seek shelter further up. This seemed to spark Glaws in to life, with their forwards giving real notice of intent, particularly in the scrums. It was in the 14th minute that they got themselves on the scoreboard. A lineout, 5 metres from our line, was taken well and driven into the heart of our defence. On the second push, Azam crashed over. HP took his usual 3 seconds to kick the conversion which faded left, 5-10.

Up to this point, I found that Glaws were kicking more of their ball to very little effect. This was giving us good possession from deep and allowed us to dominate the territory. Our pack were working hard and winning good ball all over the field, especially Big Bob. The lineouts gave us good field position and allowed for multi phase rugby. The Glaws forwards were pushing the laws to try and slow down play, which eventually resulted in penalty for hands in a ruck. Everitt eased the chance over the posts for a 5-13 after 21 minutes. From the re-start, Pearson saw fit to give the shed a decision, ruling LI offside. McRae kicked for the corner with a great kick that found touch 5 out. The lineout went like clockwork, with a dodgy throw in by Azam, a Forrester flap which ended up in the hands of one of our old boys, Boer, who crossed for the try. HP converted to bring the scores to 12-13 after 23 minutes. A disastrous time to concede having increased the lead a couple of minutes previous. We seemed to switch off for a brief moment and got punished.

Moving towards the half hour mark, Pearson pulled out his cards. It seemed to be handbags at thirty paces between Sigley and Hardwick, but the ref saw it in a different light. Both were sent to the bin to. This seemed to result in about 10 minutes of poor play from both sides. Handling errors, forward passes, sliced kicks and nothing to write home about. During this period, Forrester limped off to be replaced by Hazel, and Awesome took a big knock. It was while he was down and getting attention that the ref allowed Glaws to continue with play, with the attack nearly running all over the injured man. I think the ref has to have a bit of common sense and stop the game to allow the player to leave the field. He can then restart the game with a scrum to the team in possession.

Half time came and the score was sat at 12-13 in our favour. A few of us LI fans did not feel comfortable with the margin and thought we maybe deserved a bit more. Still, we had played a good period of rugby and taken a lead to the tunnel.

Spud had replaced Awesome at the break. Glaws kicked off the second half. This 40 minutes provided error riddled rugby from both sides. The conditions were not the best, but the handling errors soon mounted, especially from our lads. We seemed to lose the ball every time we went in to contact. The only thing preventing the scoreboard ticking over against us was the awesome rush defence we employed. Each and everyone of our boys punched above their weight.

After 44 minutes, we got pinged for an offside. HP slotted the kick to take the score to 15-13. We still felt that we could take this. The replacements came on after 54 minutes with Russell on for Flav and Hodgson on for Digby. Within a minute of these changes, Pearson gifted 3 points to Glaws, ruling that we had killed the ball in a ruck. HP duly made in 18-13, points from the shed!

The next 20 minutes continued with the errors and poor overall rugby. The score remained as was until the 72nd minute. Gloucester were ruled to be offside. Tofty, now on for Barry, kicked for touch. The lineout was dragged down by the Glaws pack, giving a kickable penalty to LI. Tofty kicked the points bringing us back to 18-16 with less than 10 to play. We just needed to get hold of the ball and put pressure on the home side.

Our hearts were to be broken before we got any descent ball. Glaws moved the ball quickly from left to right, and Sinbad fund himself in loads of space to attack the line. He then feed Hazel, who crossed the whitewash. HP missed the conversion to leave the score at 16-23 with 2 to play. The next score had to be from us and quickly to have any chance of taking the game. Glaws prevented us from getting any ball, and were now in the mood for bonus point time. In the 80th minute, HP kicked for posts after another penalty. He missed, but we knocked on. Scrum 5 in the last minutes to Glaws. All hope of at least a point hinged on this play. LI scrummaged well and forced Gomarsall to pass the ball to McCrae. He then attempted to kick cross field to the wing, but thankfully it went long and out of play. Game over.

Overall, the result was correct, but we could have taken it. We had some good periods of play and competed well in the lineout. We did, however, fail to get good ball to the dangerous Staniforth and Sacks. Catt provided a few moments of inspiration, and Big Bob was everywhere. Our defence was well managed and in their face, but let ourselves down with handling errors at critical times in the game. If we can stamp these out, we will score tries and win games. Still, we should take a bonus point from Kingsholm as a small positive. There will not be many teams that will do this during the season.

The craic in the Jockey was of a mighty veriety. The ‘Fields’ got a good airing all night and the Glaws fans gave a good singing account of themselves. I always enjoy my visits to Gloucester, and now look forward to their turn at ours for the Paddy’s Day game. Now on to Tigers, for the real first home game. A win is there for the taking.

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