Rugby Mad Blog

Sarries had a good first half hour of their game against London Irish, but then seem to go into meltdown mode РIrish scored several easy interception tries, but Sarries should have been awareded a Penalty Try by the ref after Thomas Castaign̬de was brought down off the ball chasing his own chip-ahead kick to the line. In the end, Irish finished up 30-18 and are now heading to the Guinness Premiership semifinal playoff against the Tigers.

Several noteable milestones at this game – Bob Casey captained the team on his 101st appearance; Kieron Dawson lead them out of the tunnel for his 200th and last game. And Saracens’ Kyran Bracken played his last competitive game for the club he’s served for so long. When he finally came off the field, substituted in the second half, he got a well-deserved standing ovation from all the crowd – a lovely gesture on the part of the Irish supporters, who probably rue the fact that the Dublin-born Bracken won his 51 International caps for England, not Ireland!

I decided to let the SSA bus take the strain, and caught it from Sarries’ old ground at Bramley Road, to Reading. This meant quite a lengthy drive, first in the car then on the bus. So I took May’s Rugby World and my iPod with me for entertainment.

What did I listen to on the journey? Quite a varied playlist, including the hauntingly beautiful Takk by Sigur Rós; the ever-brilliant Paul Mounsey‘s second album, Nahoo Too; In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson; Hopes & Fears by Keane (really looking forward to their new album in June) plus a bit of a blast from the past in the form of a playlist mix by ELO. An eclectic bunch really.

I had a very strange evening last night!

The Saracens’ Supporters Association (SSA) held a joint “do” with the Club at their Hatfield training centre. Two teams of three Saracens players went head to head in a Question of Sarries evening, hosted by the lovely Kyran “Sue Barker” Bracken (see right). He really got into the part, dressed in drag!
Although he didn’t go as far as Gavin Henson and shave his legs. Probably a relief all round.

There were plenty of rounds of silliness, ranging from Mystery Guest (Richard Hill cooking beans on toast in his kitchen), rugby quotes and odd one out (the best reason for picking Hugh Vyvyan as an odd one out was apparently, “he’s a ginger“!). A mad time was had by all. We did miss the Feel The Sportsman round this time, which was greatly enjoyed when they held the first QofS event. Never mind, maybe they will do it again … although Rupert swore once was enough, he’s now run it twice. Give him time to come round to the idea!