What a View!

Standing at the bar we are handed a ‘programme’ and was amazed to see the ‘team’. O’Shea,  Sheasby,  Naka, and Cunningham to name a few. Thankfully Bisach had sent the line-up to me by text earlier in the day. The lads were led out by a very energetic Pau Bear mascot. Digger may have a run for his money, he was able to do back flips and hold onto his head with one hand! Our lads were in their new strip, Bottle Green and White, it was very nice.

At kick off the game starts frantically. The ball goes into Horaks hands and he is clobbered in the first 30 seconds. Shortly afterwards a kick back by him is caught in the 22 and returned resulting in our line-out just outside the 22. An attempt to take it quickly is disallowed. We do win the line out and drive them back, Juan breaks the line but unfortunately knocks the ball on. 

From this a scrum is formed, Pau kick but it results in penalty for us (no idea what for). We decide to kick and Barry slots the ball over on the 3^rd minute. The crowd are very quiet during the kick, it is 0-3 to us. Barry also tries a drop goal on the 5^th minute but misses. There are interesting noises from instruments in the crowd.

In the 8^th minute Pau have a penalty (again no idea what for but I was not the only one unable to work it out). They decide to kick to touch. From this Pau win the line-out and start a driving maul. Irish successfully stop them and the ball is passed out wide. Our defence rallies to the wing and we steal the ball, illegally. Penalty to Pau for offside, Strudders and Hickie are being spoken to by the ref. It’s the11^th minute Pau decide to go for points the ball hits the upright and goes in, 3 - 3.

A scrappy period of play follows. From the restart we attack but Pau steal the ball and it is cleared. We win our own line-out and try to kick to touch, we miss. Pau catch and try to chip the ball this results in our line-out, which we win. Hickie takes the ball into contact but is nullified and we cannot get through their defence so we kick the ball out into their 22. They win their line-out they kick ball out, we win our line-out, we kick the ball and they catch it. Eventually Pau kick the ball and it is charged down by Bish. It is now their line-out, which they win. Pau attempt a driving maul but end up kicking resulting in our line out (something is certainly going on because Gussie looks like he wants to punch someone).

On the 16^th minute we win our own line-out and it is brought back for a free kick to us for what looks like a signal for numbers. We opt for the scrum, win it but then lose the ball straight away. Pau are passing the ball and a Pau player gets kneed in the head by one of our players as they both slide in for the ball but there are no dramatics and the Pau player is straight back up again. It is a scrum to us and Barry gets the ball to Bish, He struggles to keep it in but in the process we lose possession. Pau knock-on resulting in a scrum to London Irish. Scrum is set but we give a penalty away for pulling the scrum down. Pau kick the ball to half-way to ease the pressure.

We steal the resulting line-out but again lose it straight away. A bit of a kicking frenzy starts, we appear very slow on chasing them up and the game of rugby tennis ends with Barry kicking the ball dead. The game comes all the way back to our 22. Pau have the ball but get pinged for a forward pass, it is our scrum and we pass out to the wing. Delon runs with the ball but loses it when tackled. A Pau player slices the ball, it only makes about 2 metres. It is our line-out, which we win Pau are offside the Touch Judge sees it but the ref doesn't and decides to ignore the TJ.

The next passage of play sees us take the ball into contact but Hickie is tackled easily. We are going backwards and Pau are all over us. Appear to have no imagination and in the end Nils kicks to the corner. It seems we have no idea on how we are going to get through their defence.

Now in the 26^th Minute, Pau win their line-out but we push them hard and win the ball. Barry hoists a cross field kick to Delon who catches, he runs the ball in behind the posts. Barry converts, it is 3-10 to us. 

From the restart Hodge breaks the line but gives away a penalty for holding on. Pau kick to touch just outside our 22. We win the line-out, the Pau crowd goes wild for not straight. The ball is passed back to Barry who kicks for touch. It doesn’t make it and Pau respond with a kick. Juan hovers underneath for an age to catch it but misses and knocks it on. Half-way line and Scrum to Pau, which again results in a penaltyto them, again I have no idea what for. Pau kick for the corner but it goes out mid-way between half-way and the 22. We steal the line out but lose it again straight away. Pau pass out wide but Bish intercepts, he passes to Dodge who steams through and throws the ball back into a Pau players hand, there was nothing Dodge could do there was no-one else with him.

In the 33^rd Minute the ball is won back and goes into a ruck. Pau are penalised for coming in from the side and Barry goes for the points. Two minutes later we are offside and Pau have advantage, Pau try and play but run into the ref so he goes back and they go for the posts. These penalties have brought the score to 6-13.

Another high kick, again Juan places himself beneath it. Again he does not catch it but this time it is not a knock-on. Barry kicks to touch from which Pau win their line out and go for a rolling maul. Gus comes in from the side and a penalty is given. Pau attempt to kick to touch but it is caught by Horak who kicks it back.

In the 37^th minute and there is a stoppage in play. A Pau player is down injured and subsequently goes off. They win their own line-out at the front, they now have advantage and run with the ball. Pau have fast hands, but too fast, as they pass it along the back row no. 15 knocks it on. During this move Bish is clobbered and is down. Gus is not happy with the ref.

Just on half time Irish pass it through 4 or 5 hands all the time going forward. We are tackled at the 5 metre line and there are about 10 bodies in the way. The refs arm goes up and we only know who has scored by the announcement. Juan is given the credit. At the same time an Irish player is down for quite some time where the tackles were made. Barry Converts, we go into half time leading 6-20.

The second half  starts with Juan catching the ball! It is passed the Barry who hoofs it between half-way and the 22. Pau win their line-out but we close down their attack. We try an intercept but knock the ball on and give Pau advantage. Pau kick and the advantage is over. Bish catches it and marks.  Bish kicks the ball out and Pau win the resulting line-out and start attacking but again our defence closes them down.

Two minutes into the half Hickie goes down injured. It looks like his shoulder but he does not leave the field. Horak kicks the ball and finds touch. At line-out Pau knock on resulting in scrum to us. Shortly afterwards Hickie is down again.  Pau Bear comes to greet all the supporters (including the 20 London Irish school kids we were seated near us and who came from no-where). Again Hickie does not go off and is straight back in the scrum. We delay the pass back from the scrum and when the ball finally comes out it is a terrible pass, which results in Barry knocking it on.

From their scrum Pau pass to the wing, they are tackled and knock-on in the process. Horak picks up the ball and kicks it into touch just pass the half-way line. It is now the 45^th minute. Hickie is again getting treatment. We must have won the line-out because my notes say that Barry kicks the ball next and it doesn’t quite go dead, Pau kick back to half-way between the half-way line and the 22.

Shortly after this Pau make 2 changes.  We take Hickie off and put Flavin on. We also have a stoppage in play as Horak has a shoe and sock problem. The Pau crowd doesn’t like it very much and there are lots of whistles. We win the line-out and try and chip but it is not caught and it goes out. Pau try to take a quick one but it is disallowed. Meanwhile Declan is down injured and Pau retake the line-out. Pau are offside and we have the arm. We go for touch and win the resulting line-out from which we try a rolling maul but are pushed back, it looks like a mess. We try and get the ball out but it just dribbles out the back. We are given a penalty (don’t know why).

We have another injury and the crowd have started making ambulance type noises. It is a messy line-out and the ball is passed wide only for Horak and Penney to go for the same pass. We do however keep hold of it and change direction passing it to the other wing. It is nearly intercepted but we keep on running. The move comes to nothing. 

In the 52^nd minute  Irish replace Fann with Skuse. We have another injury Dodge is down and the crowd start up again. He is hobbling but stays on. It is a scrum to us, (would be nice to have a ball), the scrum is messy we try a pick and go but without the pick, the ball is left behind. Horak comes to the rescue, picks it up and takes it into contact. The ball comes out but we don’t seem to want it. Pau come round and nick it, they kick the ball and it is caught by Horak, he chips it then kicks it out.

On 55^th minutes Irish make two more substitutions, Willis on for Dodge and Murphy for Juan. We are penalised for offside then sent back another 10 metres. Pau overthrow in the line-out and it lands for Spud. He kicks it and they have the ball. Horak misses a tackle but we get the ball back. We kick it and they collect and subsequently kick it out. Pau steal our line-out but the catcher falls straight on his face. Somehow he keeps hold of the ball and hoofs id downfield. Horak watches the ball roll along the ground then out. The line-out is on our 22, we win it but it is not straight and they get a scrum.

They are on the attack but we win the ball back in a tackle, it is passed to Barry who makes loads of ground on his kick. Pau win the line-out and kick the ball into our 22, Delon has to watch another ball go out as it bounces awkwardly on the floor. Now 61 minutes into the game Irish make a sub, Casey on for Roche. We win our line-out but knock the ball on. From this there is a Pau scrum which results in a free kick on the 10 metre line. We tackle the Pau player with the ball but he carries on. The ref doesn’t see it and gives advantage to Pau. they go over for a try which the also convert. The score is now 13-20.

Pau return our restart and Horak catches but he is indecisive and loses the ball. Pau then kick it to Delon in our 22 but he has no-where to go so has to run it out. This leads to a line out to Pau 5 metres from our line. We steal this and then are awarded a penalty for them pulling down. From this we kick and win our line out. It is passed back to Barry who on the 68^th minute goes for the drop goal. He misses by a mile.

Pau re-start from the 22, Delon collects passing it to Barry who kicks. They catch and knock on, again the Ref doesn’t see it. They then pass to the wing but it is a forward pass, which is well spotted by the TJ.  In the 69^th minute Barry goes down injured and ambulance noises start again in the crowd. It is a scrum to Irish but it results in a free kick to Pau. We pressure them to knock-on. Another scrum to us, this time we get a free kick from it. We fail to find touch. Pau catch and we tackle the player (almost in the air). Again bit of a time warp as Pau now have a scrum, they pass out the back and kick. Horak catches and runs. It goes into a ruck but it looks like a fight. We lose the ball and Pau clear.

We have another injury. Pau have a line-out but Casey steals it. The ball is passed back to Barry who hoofs it down field. It is caught but we close them down in mid-field. Pau pass wide then kick. Spud catches it and as he runs he kicks it high resulting in Pau knocking-on. We have a scrum mid-field. It looks messy. Pau get the ball from the scrum and kick it to Horak, he kicks it to Pau, they chip kick it. It would have been a superb piece of rugby had they managed to catch it but they couldn't and we have the ball.

We run the ball and Pau get penalised for hands in the ruck. Barry decides to go for points to bring us out of catching range. The clock shows 76 minutes as Barry misses. We have only managed to waste a minute. From the restart Delon catches ball half in 22 and half out. The Ref gives the mark and the Pau crowd not very happy. His kick is sliced, putting the ball out between 22 and half-way, the crowd are a bit happier. They win their line-out and kick into touch. We win our line-out but it is deemed not straight. The ref only decides this after input from the home crowd. Pau try a rolling maul and I am getting scared this could really end up in a draw.

Pau pass wide whilst their dummy runners take out a couple of our guys and is not noticed by the ref. Pau do a slick reverse pass, suddenly they have a penalty (probably offside), which they take quickly and then they have adv. (probably for less than 10). They chip kick the ball and a Pau guy goes to catch it. This looked a definite try but Irish tackled the player as he goes to catch and he knocked-on. There is a scrum on our 5 metre line. Murph gets the ball, driving whilst taking it into contact. The ball is passed back to Barry who kicks. Pau have a line-out on halfway, we are now three minutes into added time. 

Pau win the line-out. Their big boys try to make metres but we push them back. They make 15 metres but knock-on. Irish have a scrum The Ref blows the whistle and it is all over. Pau 13 – 20 Irish

I have tried to write everything I noticed and hope I have not put a too negative spin on the match. It is just that one tends to notice the bad things more easily than the good. At the end of the day a win away in France is fantastic.

After the game we all made our way back to Black Bear. Everyone had a story of how they got there. Some went on a magical mystery bus tour, some got a taxi, some hitch-hiked some actually walked and one person blagged a lift with a Pau player! That evening until the early hours of the morning a party ensued. All were in good spirit and all the players made it that much more special.

A big thank-you should  to go the players and to the management who mingled over the weekend for their help in making the evenings that much more entertaining. I would finally like to point out the length that some people went to see London Irish play. A couple were there who had driven down for the match and drove straight back to England when the match was over, dedication or stupidity, there is a fine line but wow!

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