Bulgarian Gimp Wrestlers………..

After a three week break where we enjoyed a few warm up games by England in preparation for the dismantling of the World No 1 side; the boys were chomping at the bit for ‘game time’. Emails came in droves and by Tuesday we had a squad of 20 eager for a run out.

There were a few exceptions, namely Barney who continues to be plagued by young father duties, Splints who pulled a muscle whilst putting out the seasonal winter vase in the main formal dinning room and Barnaby who is simply waiting upon perfect playing conditions before he joins us for his debut game this season. On which point the athletic Alex Davey stepped up for his first game this season…………..more on that later.

Like England, we also had some new kit, though fortunately we elected not to be sponsored by Ribena and avoided that hideous purple colour. Instead after much deliberations over the right sponsor, (we turned down Starbucks, Amazon and many others due to wanting to be associated with the right sort of organisation), we eagerly accepted the generosity of VUE! http://www.myvue.com/about-us

Vue Entertainment is one of the UK’s leading cinema developers and operators of multiplex cinemas in the UK and is clearly strategically very savvy to have aligned their reputable brand with the mighty Harrodian Vets. So thank you VUE for your kind generosity, we really appreciate it…..

With the match confirmed away at the sumptuous St Marys University for 1400 and no sign of snow, there was no reason for any late hitches, although I did have to pick up St Bernard and our new kit at 1145. On arrival at St B’s house at 1130, I was met by a man wearing a pinny apron stood over the washing machine and holding a duster………..”why are you always flipping early Rich”, was the greeting! I retorted “so we don’t get away late”………..At 1155 we finally pulled away and started to discuss tactics , but at least his house chores had been completed otherwise he wouldn’t be allowed to watch the X factor results!!

Sumptuous St Marys with under floor heating in the changing rooms and brand new clean kit had us all thinking Christmas had arrived early, unlike Nicky B, my dependable Vice Captain, who arrived late! But soon the enthusiastic buzz and excitement about putting on clean socks with no holes, a first for Jose this year, started to become a focus on the game. A focus we needed as Quins hadn’t lost this season!

We took to the pitch and had about 25 mins to bring together some phases. Alex Davey at two in the lineout looked like a useful option and with the un-liftable Duncan doing the lifting at five we seemed set to go……

So were Quins and from the start they came at us with some pace and we absorbed huge phases of pressure being on the back foot for what seemed ages. There pack was well drilled and a few of them clearly had no chance of ever having done Movember as there wasn’t a stubble in sight and that youth showed through with some strong attacking play.
Defensively we performed well, but in attack we uncharacteristically made a number of mistakes and spilt a fair bit of ball. I reckon our errors were a symptom of the three week break and with time we started to interlink better.

Our patience started to pay off as re forced Quins to concede a few penalties and Marek converted one of them. Though Quins came back and from a scrum on our own put in managed to turn us over and score! We upped our game and started to find our patience and used the pick and go to good effect. Alex Davey was great in the lineout and disrupted a lot of their own ball and in the loose Gundog , Jerry and Nicky B also had a great game in the loose but frustratingly for us, Nicky B playing too much like Richie McCaw at the breakdown earned him a ten minute break.

Now as many of you know, I normally start to make the rest up as I have little recollection of what really happened, especially nursing stud marks in my forehead!!! However, I will limit myself to the facts as I recall them………

At some stage during the proceedings, Morgs and Gundog interlinked like poetry carving open the Quins defence putting Gundog through for a very neat try. Harley came on for Alex and played like a man possessed, his tackle count and general work rate being excellent. Jerry took a great tap and go penalty and created miles of space for St Bernard to side step twice, make a huge handoff and dive for the touchline scoring a great individual try!

Quins did still press us to the dying minutes and scored a late try with about 5 mins to go, but our eventual composure and patience helped keep them just out of the game. They were by far one of the better sides we have encountered this season and as expected their hospitality and post match banter was most welcome!

The side that played was:
1 Jerry Gillespie
2 Marty Sutherland
3 Finch
4 Clappy
5 Duncan
6 Nicky B
7 Gundog
8 Alex Davey

9 Gus
10 Marek
11 Jonathan Stadlen
12 Jose
13 Nick Morgans
14 Cris Pinni
15 Dave Kassler

16 Harley
17 Ben Mann
18 Brucie

Next week we play London Welsh at home and then get stuffed on Turkey before returning in 2013!

Unfortunately whilst writing this piece, I have been contacted by my Lawyers who have informed me that the photographic evidence of the Gimp Wrestlers can not be publicly made available and indeed can not and will not appear on this website!!!
Luv ya all Skips…….!