365 Sporting Days

Now, I have a bit of a quandary – The Rugby World Cup is only a week away and I’m behind with my blog, I think I may need to go Phlog stylie so I can get up to date before it all kicks off.

Rugby Aid kick started my weekend, it’s a game between an England team and a World team, with a mix of ex players and celebrities, I confess I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of rugby, but I was quite wrong!

The teams warmed up and we were treated to the wonderful Louie Spence throwing and sometimes catching the ball, I am one who only needs to see his antics and I’m laughing!  He did come into the game at one point and was tackled into touch by Shane Williams – again, very funny to see him ‘faux’ going at Shane!

Mike Tindall led the England team and he certainly did so in style, he’s Patron of Rugby For Heroes so the event is very close to his heart.  Probably my favourite rugby league player of all time, Paul Sculthorpe lined up at Fly Half, he looked an absolute natural! I wonder how he’d have fared to he’d made the switch during his career.

I was expecting something similar to the Legends game I saw in Ireland but as mentioned I saw instead some really great rugby, yes there were funny moments but there were also some great tries!

Shane Williams opened the Rest of The World account interlinking with Marshall Cormack, the try was exciting to see, I always struggle with this sort of occasion – I cheered every try!

That meant I cheered a lot!  There were 7 tries in all in the first half, with Tom May scoring a classy try after a long range attack involving Mark Cueto and Paul Sackey.  The try wouldn’t have looked amiss in a Premiership game!

May added to his personal tally and at one point a hat trick looked likely.  Rather than go into too much detail here’s a link to the report on the Quins website http://www.quins.co.uk/news/rugby-aid-1/#  It’s a good account of the evening.

The game was played in good spirit but there was one controversial moment when Brad Thorne tackled Jamie Lang of Made in Chelsea fame; Lang had been quite a star, having played to a high standard as a teenager he looked a natural.  Thorne almost tip tackled Lang, receiving a yellow card and boo’s for his part in the incident, Jamie Lang received broken ribs!

Both teams played with skill and determination, to be expected when you look at those involved.  The final score was England 29 Rest of The World 36 with Gethin Jones awarded the Man of The Match trophy.  There really were Legends aplenty on the pitch a rugby union favourite of mine, Simon Shaw donning the white shirt and Serge Betsen who’d been his team mate at Wasps in opposition.

The ground was by no means full, I’d recommend keeping an eye put for this fixture and going along, classy rugby and fun – what more could you want!

One fact to keep track during the year

• Cost of Ticket        £40.00