By Louisa Loveluck
June 24 2006

And so, the votes are in the and people have spoken. Votes are cast, prejudices aired, favourite moments shared. Without further ado, we are proud to present…

 COYSDC END OF SEASON POLL    

Part Two

 

“Wuss - True rugby supporters. Are a colourful lot, noisy bunch and as all good rugby supporters are, they always think they're right.”

“Wusstah . so organised – straight out of Cabaret”

“Worcester Warriors – some of the friendliest you could hope to meet”

“Worcester make a lot of noise  a lot more noise per head than we do these days - & are pretty knowledgeable too.  Its refreshing to see a group of supporters who aren’t too one-eyed about things!”

“Has to be Bristol – they took what we did to them this year so well – and there was lots of really good banter”

“This season, Sarries. Gallows humour in song in the Rodbar after getting stuffed was great stuff. Well done guys and gals!”

 

“Sixways has all it needs now with huge potential to grow with the club – stewarding is good – Guinness serving is excellent”

“Sixways (for the beer), Wellbad Road (for the curry) or (believe it or not) the Rec, as I like the whole day experience at Bath (good pubs and eating places within minutes of the ground, unlike most other grounds”

“Poo Corner. The pork rolls are good and I like the partying in the bars after”

 

“Kingsholm - Sure the facilities are almost non-existent and sure it's pot luck whether you will have a post in front of you come kick-off but you can't beat a bit of banter in ye olde shed! Traaactooor, traaactooor!”

“The Twickenham Stoop – jugs of beer, great chips and curry sauce and much improved with the new stands”

“I'm going to abstain on this one, its either soulless footy grounds or rugby grounds in dire need of upgrading. I know we're lucky with FG but when will other clubs take investing in stadia seriously?”

“Castle Grim - a proper rugby ground i.e. close in, intimidating and packed to the rafters”

“Take your pick from Kingston Park, Newcastle; Causeway Stadium, Wycombe; Sixways, Worcester, Recreation Ground, Bath & Memorial Ground, Bristol…”

 

“Jon Clarke - Who else? Last year we saw little of him on the pitch and while he may have been solid at times, he didn't show any of the pace, skill or flair that he has done this year in his new position alongside KC.”

“Jon Clarke - never a regular first-teamer, but suddenly an automatic selection in a new position and would have been an England tourist if not for his hernia operation.”

“DB1 by a mile. Really looking forward to see what Slugga can get out of him too!”

 

“It has to be a shared award: Damien Browne - went from 'Will he be kept on next year?' to 'Will he be captain next year?' Jon Clarke - Being called up to the England squad after only ten or so games in your position is no mean feat”

“Blimey, that’s tricky . err , JC or Rhodri with Damo in 3^rd. I also thought Ben Lewitt and Sam Harding worked well to adapt to the unfamiliar.”

“Johnny Howard has matured greatly in the last 18 months, and has also revealed himself as a pretty good winger…”

 

“Spreaders - especially for his reffing of last years tri nations and for being fair and letting the game flow”

“Spreaders. Refs with a smile on his face.”

“Spreaders is great to watch, and usually runs a good game”

“Chris White has probably been the most consistent”

“Chris White for the Heineken Cup final”

 “Don’t get me started…”

“Wayne Barnes! Not for being a good ref, but in terms of "column inches" he da man!”

 

“The chap we had out in France in Narbonne, don't know his name but in terrible conditions he let the game flow.”

“Although we haven’t seen to much opf him  Mr Rowden gets my vote for pinging Leicester  at every opportunity.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Vilk - A real prospect after a successful season of 7's. I can see a big team snatching him up and coming back to haunt us ala Ripol.”

“If Lordy goes (as has been rumoured) then him, otherwise the Vilkster”

“Hard to say, I believe that Nooner never got a fair crack of the whip”

“Selbourne Boome - could have been an integral part of an improving pack.”

“Selborne Boome – he was really coming into his own in the pack when his injury struck”

“I've a horrible feeling that if they haven't gone with Saintly claims stamped on their hides then Mssrs. Patson and Grove will come back to haunt us in the future. Whilst playing for Sale no doubt...”

“Probably John Rudd.  Quite a few seemed not to rate him but he was a useful squad player.”

“Seely - From a team point I don't think we'll miss any of them as none of the departees have played a significant part this season, however, personally probably Grant as he's been at the club for ten years plus and has never let the first team down when playing!”

“Might sound harsh but none of them, we're lucky in only losing fringe players.

the best of the bunch was probably Vilky but he was never going to nail a 1st team place down.”

“I don’t even know who all the Departees are…”

 

“Not a player – I believe Slugga will have a huge impact on our game & bring something to the forwards I believe we lost when Solomons had no room for Rats”

“Slugga - he'll beast the forwards into shape and give us a no-nonsense attitude thus preventing any bullying that we tend to receive from other teams”

“Slugga, the word that was used to me from one players: 'pfffft!' with eyes raised and a wry smile.”

“On size alone big Tongan lad from Bedford. With the right coaching Soane could give our pack real weight and one heck of a punch up the middle…”

“Tiny the Tongan from the sun-kissed beaches of Bedford”

“Vassy will make waves, there’s patience, then there’s job, then there’s Vassy...”

“Akinluyiluyiluyiluyi, we need a faster winger”

“Whilst I'm really looking forward to seeing the Bedford Behemoth lining up in alongside Wally & Barnard (who could himself still reasonably be the biggest impact), I think it'll be one of the academy boys stepping up. It's about time an academy product established themselves as a first choice first teamer and Easter and/or Diggin could well do it.”

“Who could or would dare to argue with Paul Tupai”

“I love Big Dav, but being French seems to have hindered him in terms of communication, though his English is very good. A better jumper than many inside the squad, I’ve got furniture at home who can jump higher than some... We should see the real Dav this Year, Converting the whole lineout into  French, now there’s an innovative idea...”

 

“Difficult to say because I’m not sure that any of our signings so far are anything other than backup squad players.

 

 

 

1.    What's the most you'd pay to watch a ZP game

 

 (a) involving Saints

 

“when I can get into a Test Match for £20 and into the Guinness Premiership Final for £10 frankly paying over £25 for any individual match ticket seems too high.”

“£390, the price of a season ticket”

“Anything I could afford!”

“I would gladly give up my house and everything I own to follow the Saints to a GP Final!”

“£50 - I like watching good rugby but it's just not the same when one of the teams isn't wearing the Gold, Black and Green.”

“About £30 in both cases. Twickers is way overpriced for internationals now.”

“All depends on who it is, if England probably 30 squid tops, Lions £100 and All Blacks probably £200”

“I've watched about half of Bristol's home matches this season at about £15 a pop, which seemed fair.”

“Why would I want to?”

 

“Hmmm I enjoyed the SWH walk but the 125^th anniversary dinner was great fun…”

“THE UPCOMING QUIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Meeting LOM, Mark and Mathew in Heroes before the Sale game.”

“Definitely the SWH walk. Enjoyed it immensely.”

 

“The charity walk- Takes a lot of organisation & commitment from everyone involved”

 

“Dunno, shame there was no Pickernik this year…”

“Drinking sessions in the bus club!”

 

 

 

“Bath ERE for the completely and utterly anal retentiveness of it!”

“If only!  Some of us have proper jobs & cant spend all day messing around
on Sport Network, you know!  ;-)”

“ERE – I love how they get all discombobulated so easily about nothing. And poochie poo is absolutely beyond parody!”

“Claire and Kath’s England site, nip on from time to time to aggravate the 'not nots' and pests, I learnt from the master, Eifion.”

 

“To finish 5 places higher”

“Shorter season - seriously - drags on far too long.  You can have too much of a good thing.”

“I'd be going to the ECC final at the Stoop.”

“Bring back a Boxing Day Local Derby”

“it would have been at least one victory over Tiggers - having a season where no wins have taken place in my eyes is not good”

“Move the internationals so they don’t interfere so much with the club game. I want to see Ben, Sean and Wally and I want to see Voyce and Grewcock and Charlie H and Cuets and all the stars playing at FG.”

“Different away shirts!”

“We would of signed Olly Barkley and formed the most talented and frightening backline imaginable next year.             or,

would of introduced the Blitz defence and got it working, and finished 2 spots higher in the league and have been in a cup final last week...            or,

Would encourage Budge to file a formal complaint every time we get Wayne Barnes as a ref.”

“Digger having to play whilst injured due to lack of cover. Completely bollixed his season”

“The structure. Ditch the Powergen, ditch the ECC, the play-offs can stay. Move the Heineken and the 6N towards the end of the year.”

“James Percival’s injury”

“more people would have brought me a free drink”

“My list is too long for publication”

 

“I've never been a fan of co-captains. To me it just screams at the other team that we have no real leader. I'd like to see Sharkey given the armband.”

“Bruce. No question. Yes, we need a pack leader, but Bruce is inspirational to the team and a talisman to us, the supporters.”

“No co captain for starters. Reihana can lead if Carlos does the kicking. Otherwise Tupai – has the never say die bad ass attitude to keep the team going forward.”

“DB1, he's earned it. He's started pretty much every game. He's guaranteed his place. He's a massive man in every respect.”

“Captain Robinson”

“Toops for blood and fire, Quinlan for the tactical mind.”

 

“Wally.  Don’t like the idea of co-captains.”

 continued on page 2