London Irish
We've only made it into the quarter finals....
By Saz's Ol Man
January 26 2016
We arrived in Agen at 19.00 as the mist started to fall, there were no signs of life and we expected tumbleweed to be rolling down the Rue.On the message board's advice we found 'Cafe de la Poste' and two other Irish fans propping the bar up by the end of the evening we'd grown to twelve.
Friday mid- morning a procession were arriving by plane, train, boat and cars. The hotel Ibis was soon to be renamed hotel Irish, the kit van was seen at a hotel further down the road ...we're in the right place. The monk appeared through door long after his 'tache', but his uniform was noticeable by its absence....
As each new fan arrived they were greeted like a long lost cousin, more and more ale was drunk to the extent a new barrel was required and wouldn't be available until 22.00, into Agen town was the only answer.
Saturday arrived along with more support, and with K.O not until 20.45 local time it was going to be a day of trying to amuse one selves without consuming too much ale or red wine...some succeeded others didn't.
A walk to the Stade Armandie was our mode of transport others went by taxi and bus. The Scoobies from Oxford had the tickets for their gang, and waited just inside the gates to hand them over, unbeknown to them there was another entrance, so their mob brought more €15 tickets...( the spares are now available on E bay...)
We found our seats in the Tribune Ferrasse stand, with the local band in fine tune behind us.
The game kicked and after 4 mins a rolling in the corner resulted in Luke Narraway going over for an unconverted try.
In the 17th min quick hands enabled Tom Fowlie to go over the whitewash, Shane coverts 0-12 and it's looking good.
After 25 mins the band played Yellow Submarine as Irish were penalised for going over the top and Bouvier slotted it over..
But what's 3 points when a minute later Tom Smallbone goes over and Shane adds the extras?
On the 30 min mark David Sisi looks in trouble on our 22, as Agen attack Shane misses the tackle and a long looping pass means a try for Nakosi converted by Bouvier, Sisi leaves the field in pain to be replaced by Matt Symons ... 10-19
And so it stayed until half time, the band continued to entertain with some vocal support from the Irish fans who new some lyrics.
After 50 mins a rolling maul on our 5 metre line results in a try for Narjissi converted by Bouvier 17-19.
"Deja vu" is now on the lips of many in green, and an deathly silence has gripped the Irish surpport, as we've been here and seen it all before..
63 mins and we think we've scored a bonus point try, but sir says different and gives us a penalty 5 metres out, we go to touch win out line out and the big lads have another trundle, before Darren Allinson spins it wide to Fergus Mulchrone try time conversion missed but bonus point is ours. 17-24.
After 74 mins our pack continues to bully the Agen 8 sending them backwards over their line at a great rate of knots, 3/4 pens to us and sir has had enough and scampers under the sticks arm raised. Penalty try time, Shane converts 17-31.
As the clock ticks onto 79 Shane intercepts and trundles of towards the line only to be penalised for offside, and in an act of petulance kicks the ball away and gets a yellow, he doesn't even get off the pitch before the final whistle.
Phones come out to be checked to see if there was any chance of us sneaking through the back door, but with Edinburgh still in losing bonus territory, it wasn't looking good but the result wasn't in so there was still hope...
Back in the 'Cafe de la Poste' the other match results were in and somehow we'd qualified. Who do we play? Did we care? No because we'd done enough to get through.The Fields of Athenry, Molly Malone echoed around the cafe, with the French locals totally bemused by what's was happening, the phones were out recording the moment that London Irish fans returned to entertain them again..
To the people of Agen we thank you for your hospitality and friendliness.
I thought the match it self was a good team performance, with the pack a dominate force. Both centres played well breaking the gain line and non of the youngsters looked out of place. The local paper said Dom Waldouck was the man of the match, and I think this was a fair choice.
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Quote:Jon_r43
Remember most of that but we got lost on route on Saturday and ended up taking in Toulouse v Sarries so every time they show that knock on we can say... we were there
..and boy that was an absolute cracker! His face, when he lost control of the ball was special..its as if he could already hear all the ribbing he's going to take for the rest of his life! Brilliant!
I don't think a lightweight could survive a weekend like that, definitely a weekend for the professionals.
