Having lived in the country
for the best part of 10 years before making the move to the Big Smoke, via
Loughborough for a few good university years, you could be forgiven for
thinking that I was a proper country girl who enjoyed dog walks, horses and the
odd shoot or two! Well believe it or not I haven't actually taken part in any of the aforementioned
activates before; we never had a dog, I’m scared of horses and as for a shoot…
well manning a gun is not something that ever crossed my mind before! However
when an email dropped into my Out On The Full inbox inviting me to the Annual
London Wasps Clay Pigeon Shoot I decided that it was time to move into uncharted territory. After all Clays are not animals and at the age of 26 I
decided that I was responsible enough to not accidentally shoot anyone or
anything that I shouldn’t!! The nerves kicked in early on Thursday morning especially when
I realised that the guns would actually be quite heavy and that there would be cameras
and photographers from BT Sport and London Wasps watching our every move! Thank goodness that
Charlie Hayter, Joe Launchbury, Andy Goode and James Haskell were on hand to take
the limelight!!
As I mentioned this is an
annual event for London Wasps, it was hosted by their lead sponsor CVS and held
at the EJ Churchill Shooting Ground in High Wycombe. The format for the day was as follows; Welcome Drinks (Tea and Coffee, obviously nothing stronger), a formal briefing and the introduction of your teams, the Clay Shooting Competition itself
and then Lunch and some time for media activities. As we walked down to the shooting range I was very
pleased to find out that I was not the only one who had never shot before; Joe Launchbury and Charlie Hayter were shooting novices too! On
the other hand Mr Andy Goode and Mr James Haskell were seasoned professionals,
James was sporting his own shooting jacket and both had snuck in cheeky practice sessions beforehand to ensure they were on top form! There wasn't any room to ease yourself in gently as once we had been given our mentor and told not
the point the gun at anything other than the targets it was competition time; 4 teams… 4 stations and points meant prizes and pride!!! Naturally
the banter was flying as quickly as the clays were being smashed… the pressure was on to ensure that I didn't let down Team Hayter! With the
top female shot and the top male shot in Team Haskell it will come as no
surprise to you that they came away with the Team of the Day Award. Team Goode
were solid second… Team Launchbury were in third place and yes that meant that Team Hayter ended up at the bottom of the table! More importantly for Dai Young’s all of his players ended the competition in
one piece and were able to run out today against Grenoble. Due to my slightly interesting technique and over-enthusiasm I obtained a little shooting injury; a delicious looking gun bruise on my right shoulder is taking great shape and going through the colours of the rainbow at the moment!!
It was a superb day, hosted
impeccably by EJ Churchill and London Wasps and certainly one of the most
exciting formats for a media day that I have been to. Focusing on the 'business end' of the day it
was a chance to look forward to the Aviva Premiership’s return and Wasps’ next fixture
against Northampton Saints on Saturday 21st December at Adams Park. Northampton Saints are arriving on the back of that emphatic Heineken Cup win against Leinster at the Aviva Stadium... they are one of the top teams in the Aviva Premiership and have some of the most exciting talent around within their ranks. There is no point in shying away from the fact that this will be a big, big test however it is one that Dai Young’s young squad are relishing. They are hungry for victory and want
to be taken seriously as Top 6 or even Top 4 contender and a win over the Saints would certainly help to do that. Wasps' have a strong squad, the loss of Christian Wade is
a blow but their mix of fresh young talent (Joe Launchbury, Guy
Thompson, Charlie Hayter) and their experienced players (James Haskell, Chris
Bell, Andy Goode) is a winning formula and you sense that this could be a big, big season for the men in black and yellow if they press on from Round 10.
