By Tigger
July 1 2016
Everyone has heard of the Prune Army but how did it come about….
In the 2011/12 season in our Amlin Cup pool we had Brive (again), Rugby Club La Vila and Agen. So Agen…never heard of it…quick Google and ‘’the city of Agen lies in the southern department Lot-et-Garonne in the Aquitaine region. The city centre lies on the east bank of the Garonne river close to the Canal de Garonne, approximately halfway between Bordeaux (132 km) and Toulouse (107 km)’’. Great fly to Toulouse and get the train. Then the fixtures come out and we play them on Thursday 8th December. Quick search…cheapest flights from Bristol to Toulouse leaving early Wednesday morning returning Friday afternoon….
Day 1. Originally we were going to leave late on Tuesday to drive down to Bristol but ended up leaving at lunchtime…pick up passenger 1…Andy…then passenger 2…Andy…and we are on our way. Luckily I had a new Satnav with live traffic information but my two passengers were not that impressed so I shut up about it (but that would change on the way back). An uneventful drive to Bristol saw us arriving at the Travelodge at around 6pm. Check in then off to find a place for some tea. I wish I could remember the name of the pub we ended up in because it was a very memorable meal. I had the homemade beef burger which was the size of a car wheel…two of them in a bun…and enough chips to feed a family of 4…and onion rings…lots of them. Andy 1 had a plate of sausage, mash and gravy. About 8 sausages and a mountain of mash. I can not remember what Andy 2 main meal was…but I do know he had potatoes with it…he had mash, chips, roast, boiled and sautéed. It was epic. So we had death by potatoes, death by sausage and death by burger. After tea it was a quick visit to another pub for a nightcap before a reasonably early night.
Day 2. Up at 6am and a 20 minute drive to Bristol airport. We met another party there who had had a bad night at a local B&B close to the airport…apparently it was run by a psychotic eastern European lady and they were all worried they were going to be murdered in their sleep…they took turns to sleep and wedged a chair under the door handle. So after a few beers to line the stomach we took off over the Bristol Channel with stunning views of the Severn crossing and on to Toulouse. Once we arrived at the train station and purchased our tickets we had a hour to kill so found a bar and had a beer whilst watching the locals….and suddenly we had a new friend who sat with us and I presume was telling us about his day or his family or his dog….he was very talkative. Then the owner comes out and said that he had ordered a beer on our tab and was he really our friend. Turns out he was a street person and tries it at several bars. Seemed a nice chap anyway. So on the train and on to Agen.
Agen is a nice place and the first thing you notice is they do like their prunes. There in every shop…and if they didn’t sell prunes they sold things with prunes on. And this is where we found out that Agen was the capital of the prune. Well you learn something new every day. Our meeting point for the travelling support turned out to have a very small bar and was more of a restaurant so after a quick Google we found Le Temple de la Bière…perfect. This became our home for the next couple of day. 8 draft beers and 100’s of bottled beers. And some wine which the advanced party drank…all of it. The nice young lady had to get more delivered for the next day. We suddenly realised that we were getting slightly hungry and time was getting on so 8 of us popped into the pizzeria next door to the bar. We were ushered into the basement (must have thought we looked like trouble makers) and ordered some wine…a litre of white, litre of red and a litre of rose. They didn’t do a rose…don’t worry we will mix the red and white together. We didn’t really. So time to order our pizzas…I had the anchovy and capers…and then there was one…the moment it all started…
‘’I’ll have the prune pizza’’
We all looked at the menu – including the waiter – and there is was. Well off goes the waiter who places our order followed by a crash…I don’t think anyone had ordered a prune pizza before and it was on there as a joke…well after some heated discussion upstairs it calmed down and we all waited expectantly for this gourmet masterpiece. The pizzas arrived and the last one out was the prune…and we all held our breath as to what exactly it was like. Well it was pieces of mozzarella with a prune on each disc. And apparently it was delicious. I wish I could remember who actually coined the phrase, I know it wasn’t me, but that there and then was when the Prune Army started too much merriment. So back to the bar for a few nightcaps and in walks Dimes and coaching staff having read the players a bedtime story and tucked them in. Now a few weeks back we had played Exeter at home and went from winning 23-7 at half time to losing 23-30 and Dimes was not happy. You may remember. So we avoided this subject and talked general how the team was, any gossip, the state of world rugby etc. Well most of us did. One, let’s call him ‘brave’ (oh and drunk…very drunk) broached the subject…well had a go at him really for letting the supporters down…we all took a step back and tried to look like we had no idea who this person was…The stare was very impressive…and Dimes gave his opinion and returned to the coaching team. I have never seen that supporter since. Anyway the nice young lady behind the bar asked all please, please go to your hotel so I can close…and that was the end of a long and interesting day.
Day 3. GOOD MORNING! Its match day….on a Thursday….so the day starts with a healthy breakfast….including prunes (we have become the regular army by now). Then off for some culture…a walk round town and a visit to Agen Cathedral which is a Roman Catholic cathedral built in the 12th century as a church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a bit gloomy inside but very impressive and I we wondered round we saw a very impressive nativity scene but then noticed…someone had stolen the baby Jesus! The crib was empty….we were horrified! But of course the French do it the correct way and do not put him in the crib until midnight on Christmas Eve…make sense I suppose. On the way out we noticed a box on the wall where you put in 1 Euro and the lights come on…so it was back round to take some photographs again that you could actually see. Culture tour over it was time to find a lunch venue, one that did a certain duck dish and in due course found a small reasonably priced restaurant that offered a set menu for 12/25 Euros either duck or beef. Sorted. Now back to the central square for coffee. Here we decided after much thought we wouldn’t drink until after lunch around 3pm. The reason being that the game did not kick off until 9pm local time. Then we changed that after some thought and said with lunch. Coffee drank we sat back to people watch and as the clock struck midday we ordered a Pelforth each…the road to hell etc. After a few beers we made our way to the restaurant for a very nice meal the owner was very friendly and he ran it with his wife and son. They also had a very nice house red at 10 euros a bottle and we had 3 (could have been 4) bottles between the five of us. Then it was back to Le Temple de la Bière to meet up with the travelling support….all 40 of us. Then we whiled away the time sampling some of the excellent beer. By the time it was time to leave for the ground we were all in quite a happy mood. On arrival at the ground were burst into the now infamous song ‘PRUNE ARMY PRUNE ARMY PRUNE ARMY!’ much to the shock and amusement of the Sale players who were warming up. I am not sure what the locals made of the travelling support but we then continued in much the same vein and out sung the 3,000 or so home support. By half time we had a try bonus and were winning 7-29.The second half was a strange affair. The home mascot which was some sort of eagle (we think) looked very like a chicken. He also decided to come and sit with us as we were the only ones singing and cheering. This is also were we started singing any chicken related songs we could think off…
I feel like chicken tonight
Poulet vous….ahha… (think ABBA)
We even had the assistant referee laughing with not straight (on our own lineout). Final whistle and an away win with a bonus point (14-29…never easy supporting Sale!!). Back to the bar for a nightcap and some more singing before being asked politely to leave as the young lady really wanted to go to bed (and most likely book a holiday to somewhere expensive).
Day 4. Friday morning and it seemed like it had been a dream. But it was time to return home and after another healthy breakfast it was the train to Toulouse and bus to airport. A much more subdued trip. On landing at 4pm at Bristol we all said our goodbyes and looked forward to a slog hoe through the Friday rush hour. Another trip over and a rare away win in France.
PS Oh remember my wonderful new sat nav? Well it came into its own on the way back as the M6 was shut north bound near Crewe and thanks to this great button marked avaid all traffic we got a scenic tour of Cheshire and it only took 20 minutes extra…shut the two Andys up…
PPS Andy 2 messaged me the next day asking exactly what model I had as he wanted to buy one…