She agrees, it's not just the hangover, the tiredness or the drudge of traveling. The fact is that we were on our way to Reading fully expecting to see our team be well and truly mullered by one of the very best in Europe.

So, to the nuts and bolts of the game. We were all a tad surprised just before the game when it was announced that Barry the boot had been injured during the warm up and that our new signing Riki Flutey would be filling his shoes. Given that he had only stepped of the plane from New Zealand the previous Monday this was a big ask. Someone near me mused "I wonder if there are some mind games at work here." I must say that I felt the same.

The game started with Wasps camped on our line. After a couple of minutes they had a scrum under our posts, a try seemed certain. Somehow, however, our line held and we managed to clear it. We then nicked the Wasps lineout, a recurring feature throughout the first half thanks to Big Bob and JFK causing mayhem, and the ball found it's way to Flutey on our own 22. Here we first saw what the man could do. He launched a monster cross-field kick. It was high, into space and made a full fifty meters before it bobbled into touch.

It was from this position that our first score came. We won the lineout and after a few phases of play the ball found its way to Shane Geraghty on the Wasps 22 with his back to the posts. He turned sharply but as he did so he slipped. This seemed to distract the otherwise very sound looking Wasps defense. No sooner did he slip but he recovered. He set off like a hare, danced round a few leaden footed Wasps defenders and ran in under the posts. RF had an easy conversion. With seven minutes on the clock it was 7-0, joy oh joy.

The rest of the half was a penalty shoot out. The score ran 10-0, 10-3, 13-3, 13-6, 16-6. Flutey's kicking, taken from an unusually high tee that I would associate more with American football, was flawless. On thirty five minutes Geraghty was carded. I didn't see the offence, or even the card being shown, but I understand it was for a high tackle. From the resulting penalty Van Gisbergen brought the score to 16-9.

We were to get one major fright just before half time. It came from a passage of play where we were attacking. A poor pass was intercepted by a Wasps player who tore down the wing. A try looked certain until the combined efforts of JFK who just about managed to slow him down and a fantastic tackle by Stan the man grounded him.

In the dying minutes of the first half Bish was replaced by Topsy. Wasps were on the attack when David Paice was pinged for a high tackle. He was lucky not to get carded. Referee Ashley Rowden, who in general had a very good game, perhaps decided that two LI players in the bin at the same time would have been a tad harsh. The resulting penalty was converted, the teams went in at half time with the score 16-12.

The general feeling amongst those I spoke to at half time was positive. One caveat mentioned by more than one of the faithful was "But we always play rubbish in the second half". As the teams ran out for this it was announced that Big Bob was being replaced by O'Strudders. This puzzled a few of us as Bob was felt to have had a very good first half.

Early in the second half Flutey appeared to be clear, the crowd were on their feet but the play was called back for an earlier high tackle. Marie pointed out that it was good to see the team running come what may rather than, as in previous seasons, standing around waiting for the whistle. The penalty was kicked into the corner from where an attempt to catch and drive was thwarted. Reddan however peeled off the back of the subsequent scrum and made it over in the corner. The conversion was missed but we were now behind for the first time in the game. On 45 minutes it was 16-17. Geraghty came back on at this stage. His binning had been expensive, we had shipped 11 points in his absence.

We took the lead back a few minutes later courtesy of a huge penalty kick by Flutey. This lead did not however last long as on 52 minutes Paul Sackey danced round a couple of defenders then passed to Johnny O'Connor. For once our defense which had been looking so good all afternoon seemed asleep. O'Connor, not the fastest player on the Wasps side by any means, was able to run round a few players and splash to the ground with the ball. The conversion dropped in off the posts, the score stood at 19-24.

Wasps brought Josh Lewsey and our old friend Cactus boy Dawson on as the game moved into the third quarter. Whatever we may think of these players you had to marvel at the strength in depth of a squad that could pull two such players off the bench for the last twenty minutes of the game. Beefy came on for Collins and Spud for Legoman. The latter change disappointed my partner who had been admiring the Argentinean's, shall we say 'build'.

Most of the pressure at this part of the game was from ourselves however the Wasps line held. Our second try, when it came on 71 minutes came from nothing. The ball was midfield, it was spun out to Dilly Armitage who danced round a couple of tackles then set off downfield. We saw similar things in the last couple of seasons, they normally resulted in Dilly getting isolated and us losing the ball. Not so this time, Topsy was in support. Dilly chipped a delightful ball through for him to run on to. It was a real champagne moment. RF duly converted and we were back in the lead 26-24.

After the try we were mostly managing to keep the ball in the middle of the park. Time and time again Wasps were being pinged for handling on the ground. Ashley, who in general had a good game, dished out several talkings to but no cards. One particularly amusing moment was when Matt the mouth ran so far offside that he found himself alone in the middle of the Irish defense. As he tried to plead his innocence all Ashley and the Irish players could do was try to stop laughing.

Wasps took the lead back in the 79th minute. A penalty had taken them up to our 22. They secured the ball from the lineout and set up a maul in the middle of the park. From here the ball was whisked back to Alec King who dropped a goal from some 40m out. You have to hand it to the Wasps, they are a class outfit. A couple of minutes later we were again pinged for offside in our own half, Van Gisbergen made no mistake with the penalty and pretty well ended the game by bringing the score to 26-30.

There were to be no more scores, the Wasps line held firm. One incident that did stand out in the last few minutes was the practical beheading of Topsy by Paul Sackey as he tried to chip the ball through. Those of us who were close to it felt that it was about as cynical a professional foul as you would see. How he didn't get carded is a mystery.

Final score: London Irish 26 - 30 Wasps.

Ten hours after sitting in misery at Schiphol it all seemed worthwhile. Whilst we had been narrowly defeated we saw a side with spirit, ambition and no little measure of style. Everyone I spoke to was happy with the performance if not the final result. Skippy's work in progress seems to be bringing results. Moreover the team are again playing attractive rugby. After seasons of having to watch turgid games we are at last seeing some flair although I will add that some of the attempts to run out of defense looked so risky that they scared the living daylights out of me.

Riki Flutey's debut with us was little short of sensational. Not only was his kicking accurate and inspired, his ball handling was crisp and I was also delighted to see that he was doing what every number ten should do, calling the plays, instructing players where to be and what to do. With Barry, Ross and now Riki the competition for the no. 10 spot will now be intense.

One thing that also greatly pleased me yesterday was to see just how well some of the academy boys are now coming through the system and settling into the first team. I can see a time, perhaps five years down the line where the majority of our squad have come up through the ranks. We have to face it now, having lost yesterday we are almost certainly out of the Powergen Cup this season. Perhaps the two remaining games we have should be used as an opportunity to blood some new talent?

The crowd of 6.8k was actually bigger than I had expected. I was aware that there was a certain amount of confusion at the gates where season ticket holders were unaware that the cup games were not part of their ST package. This in turn caused pressure to be put on the ticket office and a good number of people to miss a part of the game. It is bound to happen again and is something that requires a bit of thought. Perhaps the club should consider something like Leicester? Have two different ST packages, one including cup games and one just for the GP games.

As always in the company of the LI family the day was a highly enjoyable experience. If we can get the package right both on and off the field they will come. The future is bright.

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