After the first 2 Rounds of the Heineken Cup we
always knew that this set of Back To Back fixtures were going to be feisty and
extremely competitive but I don’t think that any of us quite expected the level
of intensity and excitement that we witnessed this weekend. It is extremely hard
to pick a favourite from the 24 matches played; which last gasp victory was
better Leicester’s against Montpellier or Munster’s against Perpignan? Was Connacht’s
victory in Toulouse the most unexpected of all the results? Or was the plain
old-fashioned annihilation of a team in front of their home crowd the victory
of the two rounds? Whatever your individual preference, there was a lot of
rugby to discuss and what better way to do it than at my favourite pub in
Twickenham, The Cabbage Patch, with a few legends of the game!!
Last night was the recording of the second Heineken
Rugby Show, in Show One we witnessed Scott’s 30 second Heineken Review, boy can
that man talk quickly, we heard first-hand the outrage and frustration that
Matt Dawson’s felt about Julien Tomas’ yellow card for 3 crooked feeds and we
made a little call to Ben Cohen to understand his perspective on all things
Heineken Cup related! After the success of Show One the gauntlet had been laid
down and the question on everyone’s lips as we stepped into The Cabbage Patch
was just how could the team possibly beat that!?!
Returning once again to lead proceedings were Will Carling and Scott Quinnell and this time they were joined by Bath and England legend David Flatman. It is safe to say that David's addition to the Heineken Rugby Show family was a superb one… Flats’ banter and stories were simply outstanding and of course his rugby knowledge wasn’t bad either!!
The night started well with a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” as last week Will celebrated a rather significant birthday… once the candles were blown out, the card (Dear Bum Chin Love Scotty) and present were opened it was time to get down to the serious business of talking about the rugby!! The brilliance of Brian O’Driscoll, the financial systems of the French teams and of course the final results were all poured over and discussed in full.
For any presenter opening up the floor
to the audience is always a little disconcerting as you really don't have any
idea as to what is going to be asked and last night proved this. As rugby fans and players I’m sure that
you are all very aware of the phrase “what goes on tour, stays on tour”… well
last night there it was certainly a case of “what is said in the Cabbage Patch
Pub, stays in the Cabbage Patch Pub”. The first question ‘What did you have to do
for your initiation?’ set the tone for some outrageous stories and reminiscing
from our panel. Scott, Will and Flats all told some absolute crackers and thankfully
for Flats’ and a few of his ex-England team mates, none of them will be making
the final edit!!! All I can say about their tales is that I thought that I knew a lot about
professional rugby players and their adventures… but last night I was
enlightened!!!!
If you are able to get to The Cabbage Patch for the next shows’ filming then you really should. It is a winning formula; 3 mates, who happen to be rugby legends, discussing the game they love so much with a live audience to feed in the questions and banter. What is not to love!? If you need any more enticement then yes you do get given a couple of free Heineken, after all being an audience member is thirsty work!!! So look out for the next Heineken Rugby Show in January at The Cabbage Patch and make sure that you are there!
We all know how unique the Heineken Cup is; the place that it holds in all of our hearts is a special one, the rugby that it produces is off the scale and with its future being a little uncertain now is the time to celebrate it fully. Tomorrow we will know the timings for Round 5 and 6 and on Thursday we can all enjoy watching Episode 2 of The Heineken Rugby Show and you will get a chance to see exactly what I have been raving on about!!
Here we are.... the Heineken Rugby Show Episode 2!!!
