The Heineken Cup or The H Cup
depending on where you live has been in existence since 1995 and in its 18
years there have been exactly 6 French Winners, 6 Irish Winners and 6 English
winners. For the past couple of months the tournament has been making the headlines
for all of the wrong reasons. The ‘European Debate’ has been well documented
and still remains unresolved however now that the rugby has started it is time
for the politics to take a back seat. Heineken have been the proud sponsors of
the competition since the start, this season they have created ‘The Heineken
Rugby Show’ and last night I was lucky enough to attend to the filming of the very first one!
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| The first of 6 Heineken Rugby Shows |
The venue for the evening was The
Cabbage Patch, which is undoubtedly one of the most famous rugby pubs in
Twickenham and therefore a very fitting venue for the show.
The Patch was suitably dressed for the event looking resplendent in green and
surprise, surprise the drink of the evening was Heineken! Admittedly before last
night I had never actually tasted a Heineken, as you all know I’m more of a
champagne lady; however I was pleasantly surprised as I delicately sipped my Heineken
bottle throughout the night!
Leading proceedings was Mr Will Carling OBE, who never actually won a Heineken Cup during his career, in fact he was the only one of our three legends who hadn’t, and of course it would have been rude to remind him of this fact more than once during the night wouldn’t it!?!! He was joined by two very well-known faces on and off the pitch; Matt Dawson and Scott Quinnell. The objective of the show was to discuss and enjoy all things Heineken Cup related and answer some of the burning questions about the competition. The questions flew in from around The Cabbage Patch and from everyone’s favourite form of social media Twitter using the #HeinekenRugby. Rest assured that the answers were more than satisfactory and as you would expect from the three panelists there were a few great stories thrown in for illustrative purposes too!!
Leading proceedings was Mr Will Carling OBE, who never actually won a Heineken Cup during his career, in fact he was the only one of our three legends who hadn’t, and of course it would have been rude to remind him of this fact more than once during the night wouldn’t it!?!! He was joined by two very well-known faces on and off the pitch; Matt Dawson and Scott Quinnell. The objective of the show was to discuss and enjoy all things Heineken Cup related and answer some of the burning questions about the competition. The questions flew in from around The Cabbage Patch and from everyone’s favourite form of social media Twitter using the #HeinekenRugby. Rest assured that the answers were more than satisfactory and as you would expect from the three panelists there were a few great stories thrown in for illustrative purposes too!!
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| The view from behind the camera! (Image @TheRugbyAgency) |
So without giving too much away, as
the first Heineken Rugby Show will be live on the Heineken YouTube Channel on
Thursday, what did we learn!? Firstly the reasons why Matt Dawson didn’t play
in his Heineken Cup Final were twofold; both injuries were inflicted by a
certain Mr Quinnell. Firstly he managed to knock out Dawes and then proceeded to
rub salt into the wound by pulling his shirt and managing to pop his shoulder
out at the same time… now that’s what you call ‘affection’. Matt also
elaborated on his outrage regarding Julien Tomas’ yellow card for not straight
feeding into the scrum and all three men got off the fence and
picked their 2013/14 Heineken Cup Winners and I think you’ll be surprised at the
teams chosen!
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| The H Cup (Image @MeeraPatel) |
There was so much more discussed but I really don't want to give the game away. Overall it was a fantastic evening,
the Cabbage Patch was an excellent venue and all night the stories and banter
flew thick and fast. As with any live recording we had our bloopers, the
highlight being a crooked line out throw that smashed more than a few bottles
of Heineken… luckily there were plenty more to fill the void!! However on a
serious note the fact that we have enjoyed 1,920 minutes of blistering rugby in
Rounds 1 and 2 provided ample content for some serious rugby discussion and Matt,
Will and Scott were on fine form. I am very much looking forward to seeing the
first show online on Thursday and with 5 more in the pipeline over the course
of the year it will be a great way to review this legendary competition in what
might be its final hoorah! Personally I couldn’t resist getting slightly involved
so watch out for my guest appearance during the show… that’s if I make the
edit!!!
With 45 days until Round 3 we have a little while to wait until the European action starts again, however with domestic challenges and the Autumn Tests on the horizon time will fly by and it will be Friday 6th December before you know it. I must say a massive thanks to Heineken for putting on a superb evening, I’ve no doubt that the next 5 shows will be just as action packed and entertaining and I cannot wait to return for Show 2!
With 45 days until Round 3 we have a little while to wait until the European action starts again, however with domestic challenges and the Autumn Tests on the horizon time will fly by and it will be Friday 6th December before you know it. I must say a massive thanks to Heineken for putting on a superb evening, I’ve no doubt that the next 5 shows will be just as action packed and entertaining and I cannot wait to return for Show 2!
