365 Sporting Days
Sharing a passion for Sport!
A quick summary of how the competition is going to work this season (Covid allowing). With Marseilles at last getting their finals on the weekend of May 27th. Pool Stage Clubs were allocated into three pools of five – Pool A, Pool B and Pool C. The pool stage will consist of five rounds with each club playing four matches […]
It’s Autumn Internationals time – except both this match and the match between Scotland and Tonga were both booked outside of the official window. That meant both Home Nations teams were without any players situated in Premiership Rugby. That in spite of the fact that all of those picked in the England squad were absent on a training camp in […]
Watching Premiership Rugby really is so much better when people sit in their seats, for one, and when ref link works, for two. I managed not to miss anything vital this week, and there was a lot of good stuff to see. Poor Wasps travelled to the Stonex Stadium with 15 of their players on the injury list, and one […]
On 25th September 2020 the worst thing happened to Police Sergeant Matt Ratana, he was shot dead inside a police custody facility in London. The New Zealand born officer had served 30 years in the force and was nearing retirement. Matt was born in the Hawke’s Bay Region and was of Maori descent. But he was so much more than […]
In late 2019, before Covid Life struck , I met with Joeri Peperkamp, the Founder of a project based on rugby and its values in Holland, aimed at helping young people onto a different path. At that time he was hoping to start the project in the UK after it had proved to be a success in his home country. […]
I was looking forward to a game of rugby union between England and Scotland A at Welford Road in Leicester, but woke up to news that the game had been cancelled due to positive Covid tests in the Scotland camp. London Skolars were away in Keighley, a long trek, but happily Broncos were at home. I bought a ticket for […]
I don’t quite know how to describe the weather for Round 7 of the cricket. Rugby weather might be the best way to put a name to the rain and wind that descended on most of the country. The first round of games since 2019 to see members allowed back meant warm, waterproofs were needed for those lucky enough to […]
It’s been a torrid few weeks to be an England and Saracens fan, a time that started with such hope saw a crowd of us rock up at Allianz Park at 8am on a Saturday morning to watch England win the World Cup. That didn’t quite go to plan as South Africa pretty much did to us what we did to the All Blacks, perhaps Warren Gatland was right and England had put in their all in that astonishing semi-final. Losing Kyle Sinckler after 2 minutes didn’t help. But the match literally personified the rugby saying – The forwards decide who’s going to win the match, the backs by how much – England were out muscled from minute one. Although […]
This was one I couldn’t write while I was watching, the long awaited match between Pakistan and India. I drove up from Taunton through torrential rain, heading to Manchester a place renowned for rain at the best of times! Saturday evening was spent with some of my Stani Army friends at a restaurant in Wilmslow, Lal Qila followed by ice […]
Saracens first visitors of the New Year were a much improved Gloucester, a team I was looking forward to seeing live, with a couple of highly rated Scotland players in their ranks, in Adam Hastings at 10 and Chris Harris in the Centres. Two forwards in particular had caught my eye over the time Saracens were away from the Premiership. […]
Boxing Day Rugby! Having checked again and again the match was on, Unlike poor Newcastle and Sale fans whose match was ‘covid cancelled’ as Saracens European match against Pau had been. Annoyingly just days after Saracens made their statement around covid cases all games against French opposition where travelling into France was needed were postponed. Leinster, in spite of being […]
In 2017 I wrote an article about my favourite World cricketers, I’d seen 9 teams that year and picked at least 1 player from each country. I picked 4 for England, being Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow. One of those players has since retired from international cricket, another may be doing so very soon. It turned out that the player stepping away from Test Cricket would be Moeen Ali as I now update this article in the midst of an Ashes series in Australia that isn’t going too well for England. The calls to reinstate Jonny Bairstow are coming thick and fast. The original article was written during the 2019 Ashes series in England; I’m going […]
A weekend away re-arranged twice due to Lockdown saw a great weekend in and around Birmingham for me. I most probably wouldn’t have driven all the way to Exeter and usually wouldn’t be keen to watch a tight loss. But having read some of the comments around the game I wanted to add my opinions too. The photos are courtesy […]
A bit of a general rant before I get into the game in hand. This week in the Premiership saw three Friday evening fixtures – Bath v Exeter – TV game – 102 Miles Bristol v Northampton – 113 Miles Wasps v Gloucester – 71 miles Only one of those matches was on the TV, being the Bath match, I’ve […]
My live sport fix for this weekend took me to the Chigwell Construction Stadium – Dagenham and Redbridge’s home ground. An easy journey for me, I drove to Upminster and jumped on the train, 4 stops later and a 5 minute walk and I was there. I’Il drive all the way next time there was plenty of street parking around. […]
I’m sitting in front of the TV to write this one, hoping to go to London Irish’s new ground for the Premirship match but commitments mean it’s a sofa match for me this week, so a match report that looks a bit like a live commentary. Things are on to a winner in the build up with Topsy Ojo on […]
What could be better than a double rugby weekend at the Stonex Stadium, sadly not many other Saracens fans felt the same, we have a way to go before the Women’s games get the crowds they deserve. I attended a game around 5 years ago now at what was Allianz Park and the standard of rugby was poor, the game […]
Arriving in good time for the game I was surprised at how many empt seats there were, it would never have entered my mind not to attend this match, having been starved of live rugby for so long. Unless of course people were at Twickenham, but I suspect there were too many gaps for that to be the case. One […]
On Sunday 7th November I went to the Cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens and saw a dominant England performance, their opponents – New Zealand. This was a women’s international match and it was briliant! A crowd of 9366 made their way to Northampton. I’ve been to the ground many times to watch Premiership Rugby and have always approached from the […]
No photos for this one, I messed my camera settings up and those I took are really poor 😦 London Irish had been involved in 2 draws before their visit to the Stonex Stadium, the first of those being against Sale, when they trailed by 17 points at half-time, Sale had 31 at that point and failed to score a […]
A thoughtful Social Media post from Yorkshire member Matt Loades, which very much deserves a wider audience. Aside from responding to sensible debate this will be my last word on this for while as I sadly accept that certain parties will never understand the seriousness of the situation. I wrote this earlier this morning. This is my opinion on the […]
A visit to The Stoop always gives me the chance to spend time with my Quins supporting friends Sue & Henry, we met for a Costa and were all quite cagey about how we thought the game might go. Quins, the Champions and second in the league playing Saracens sitting at third. My seat in the North Stand had me […]
The Spring weather turned up again at Stonex Stadium for the Women’s Premier 15’s match between Saracens and Exeter Chiefs. The men had won their first game back at the stadium in the new Premiership season. the Women were playing their 5th game and the second at home – their results so far – Wasps FC Ladies 20 – Saracens […]
Saracens fans had last attended a Premiership Rugby match at what was Allianz Park on March 7th 2020 as the home team beat Leicester Tigers. A season out of the top league saw just a few fans able to attend a couple of Championship games, this was the first time back after an Annus Horribilis. The weather was a delight, […]
After watching Saracens Storm running in 11 tries against Ealing Trailfinders at the Stonex Stadum I’d been a bit spoilt rugby wise; my mid-week entertainment involved a round ball at the London Stadium as West Ham played Rapid Vienna; it struck me that for all of the superior attitude so many rugby union fans show towards football and its fans, […]
365 Sporting Days 