3:02pm Monday 7th April 2008
By lindsay clayton
And what a great day I had. My daughter Jen had paid for the tickets to the European Challenge Cup semi final against Montpellier at Sixways so I decided we would go the whole hog and partake of
match day hospitality too. So we booked into box 5 of the South Stand with 9 friends, 2 of whom had birthdays too and 2 others their wedding anniversary.
We arrived at the ground at 12:30, met up with Daz and Tracy and we all made our way up to the box. It’s first time I had been up in the box area and very nice it is too.
Wine on the table already and by the time everyone had arrived the food appeared too. Lancashire Hot pot and some very nice fresh veg… Presents and cards and “50” ballon were exchanged and we sat
down to eat, then the first surprise of the day Craig Everett arrived with Ben Gotting to come and say hello, Craig, Daz and Tracy had plotted to get Ben to come and see me as I am a bit of a fan
of his, so his being there was very much appreciated. Photos duly taken and me all flushed with embarrassment, the guys took their leave and we finished off lunch with a triple chocolate mousse,
which was soooooo nice.
So finally on to the real reason we were there, the rugby. The view from the box was great, you also get the full force of the East Stand chants too, lovely noise!!!
We were treated to a 7 try first half, 5 for the Warriors, scored at the South end (thanks for that guys!) and 2 for Montpellier. The nuances and technicalities of the game are a bit of a haze as I
was really revelling in the occasion, the company and a little drop of wine!! But Miles scored first right under the posts then Sam, 2 by Rico and the final one by the lovely Craig Gillies.
We went back into the box at half time with The Warriors leading by 33 points to 12. A drop more wine against the cold wind… and back out onto the balcony for the second half. The half didn’t quite
go the way of the first to say the least, in that up until 8 minutes to go Montpellier had score 14 unanswered points. The Warriors had let one or two chances go begging and then the was a penalty
given to The Warriors almost in front of the posts and Shame did the honours and added 3 points to the total. And that’s where the score stayed a Warriors win 36 – 26.
This sets up a semi final against Newcastle Falcons at Sixways on 25th April at 8pm. A Friday night game, don’t we just love them…. Jonny, Mat Tait, Jamie Noon, Toby Flood and the much vaunted Carl
Hayman it’s going to be a cracker!! It may live on TV but there is no substitute for being there, in the middle of the East Stand amongst the massed voices of the Warrior faithful. Puts chills down
your spine….
So the match over and done with we wandered off to the West Stand bars to do a bit of socialising but my wonderful friend insisted that my “50” balloon was tied to me… Which at first I wasn’t too
happy about but as it led to so many unsolicited compliments I was grinning for most of the rest of the day!
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g199/madpaddler23/Montpellier%202008/me_lloyddy_reg2.jpg
Thanks to all the players who ‘unprompted’ came over and had a photo with me and my balloon and to all my friends and my lovely daughter a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for a truly
memorable day.
See you all for the Bath game and remember to wear pink!
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