Those who sit near me will testify to my excitement when he comes off the bench, “Go Georgie” being my favourite battle cry.

So where was I when he scored that magnificent, game winning try on Saturday?

Cardiff.

Having got lost in the Welsh capital I missed the first few minutes of the game finding my hotel. Luckily on checking-in I discovered they had Sky in the bar.

I watched the next 10 minutes there and then, following an Ugo Monye like sprint across town, I took up my position in the Walkabout in front of a humungous screen, (even Danny Care looked big and Mike Ross colossal.)

I continually bore my Munsterfan friends to death, waxing lyrical about all things Quins, our magnificent academy and Georgie in particular, so a huge cheer went up from those watching the game on the smaller screens around the bar, when Georgie stepped onto the pitch.

He was referred to as “Babs’s boy” from then on.

That try, happily securing a momentous win against league leaders, Gloucester was superb!

The look on Georgie’s face as he realised he was going over the line unhindered was perfect!

I was hysterically dancing a jig and generally screaming the place down as I was generously congratulated by my Irish friends.

Seeing us beat Glaws obviously had an added attraction as Munster are due to face them at Kingsholm in the HC ¼ final on the 5th April.

An army of bottles of Bulmers lined up for me on the bar. Obviously it was a struggle to deal with them all, but I managed. (Actually they helped numb the pain of Munster losing to Cardiff later.)

My phone was still buzzing with texts after midnight from Quins friends saying, “I can’t believe you weren’t here!”

On reflection my absence was probably a good thing.

The poor guy who sits in front of me will definitely think so!

Earlier in the day I’d tried in vain to get a message to Mad Max suggesting that he might like to coach the crowd at H.T. on the correct greeting and volume required to cheer Georgie’s arrival.

Note to self…must get Max’s mobile no.

I honestly can’t say how I would have reacted if Georgie had actually been within reach!

Pitch invasions are not commonplace at The Stoop, but would have been highly likely in this case and spontaneous combustion can be quite frightening for onlookers, I hear.

I managed to get messages out to both Georgie’s Mum and the boy himself, (thanks Claire and Kim) and look forward to catching up with “sponsor-boy” in the flesh shortly. A bobble of bubbly would seem to be in order!

Finally I thought I’d take this opportunity to give you the background on my sponsorship of Georgie.

Despite various rumours about “grooming” (hand up Dan Wooller), my first encounter with England’s former Under 16 captain was when he approached me after a game at The Stoop.

I was politely stopped by a tall young man enquiring if I was Babs.

I admitted to being so and he went on to ask me if he could have another CLB wristband for his girlfriend. He then shouted over to a bunch of lads including Charlie, Kiba and JTH, “THIS IS BABS!”

I felt like a rock star as they all crowded round me, thanking me for their wristbands and saying they thought they were “cool.”

They all seemed so sweet and friendly. Definitely Quins material! Georgie quickly became a firm favourite and has had to endure my very vocal support at A games and one of my proudest moments was when he scored twice in front of me at Old Deer Park. He even gave me one of his Welsh shirts. Bless him! I remember having to explain why their fans called him “Flora”.

I’m still not completely convinced that he would have been disappointed if I’d stopped sponsoring him when I took on Seb Jewell this season, but his Mum and Dad insisted this was the case, so I guess he’s now stuck with me.

Assuming, please God, that he continues his rugby career at Quins, you’ll keep seeing my name under his photo in the match programme.

GO GEORGIE!!

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