Worcester Warriors V Brive, A Supporters View

by RT

Worcester Warriors Walk on Water

South-west France: red wine; cassoulet; hot summers; passionate rugby supporters; the home of past heroes such as Walter and Claude Sponghero, Jean-Pierre Rives and of present superstars – Frederic Michalak, Fabien Pelous and Serge Betson.

Any hope that Worcester’s first European match would be played in the autumnal glow of an Indian Summer afternoon was quickly dispelled on Saturday.  It was more a case of baptism by full immersion than a chance to dip our toe in the water! Perhaps the French supporters had heard the weather forecast: they were conspicuous by their absence, much to the disappointment of the Sixways faithful.

Throughout the week, Hereford & Worcester Radio and the Worcester Evening News had given the game a high profile.  It was not just our first European Challenge Cup match, but our opponents were Brive – a team currently 7^th in the French domestic league, Parker Pen quarter-finalists last season and previous winners of the Heineken Cup.

Enthusiastic fans made strenuous efforts to make Internet contact with their French counterparts, only to discover that there would be no travelling support: “too far, too difficult, too expensive.”  Levez les chapeaux, therefore, to those intrepid Worcestershire travellers who are not deterred by such obstacles and are off to Brive next Saturday to cheer on the Warriors.

There were, however, a couple of Brive officials in the dining-room before the match, so Dave Bradley’s “Bon jour” was not entirely wasted.  The players on question-and-answer duty were Craig Gillies, Andre Van Niekerk and Giscard Pieters (who assured us that his name was no indication of a French connection).  Naturally, several of the questions had a South African flavour: both Andre and Giscard felt that South African sunshine allowed free-running, high scoring rugby which was not always possible here, but they didn’t feel that there was a problem with different interpretations of laws. All three players declined to comment on the standard of referees in the Zurich Premiership!  Craig Gillies explained that training this year is more intense than last and admitted that it takes a day or so to recover from the buffeting of a game.  Later, Andre explained to us how to avoid cauliflower ears (something to do with drainage and sticky tape apparently).

Both Andre and Craig had given up time to attend the Supporters’ Club meeting last Tuesday.  They had been joined there by a number of other squad members.  Thanks are due to all of them, not only for coming, but for their willingness to talk tactics, reminisce about past games and chat about themselves.  The players should be assured of the value of such evenings in consolidating club loyalty and building the kind of committed support that is adding to Worcester’s growing reputation both on and off the pitch.

There was certainly plenty of club loyalty about when the Warriors splashed on to the pitch on Saturday.  Credit is due to both sides – and to the Italian officials – for serving up such a good game of rugby in conditions which were more suitable for hopping amphibians.

Consider:

1997 – Cardiff Arms Park – Heineken Cup Final; 41,000 spectators in the ground; 35 million spectators in front of their TV screens. 

Final score:  Leicester 9 – Brive 28

October 23^rd, 2004 – Worcester Sixways – European Challenge Cup; 4,000 spectators in the ground.

Final score: Worcester 29 – Brive 15

October 25^th, 1415 – Agincourt – Hundred Years’ War; spectators – none recorded.

Final score: English – won; French – lost.

We now look forward to next weekend when:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

Fly the flag for Warriors deep in France,

And gentlemen in England now abed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here

At Brive-la-Gaillarde.

(Apologies to W. Shakespeare)

RT