LS's report on Tiniest Stinger’s first tour

By Little Stinger
January 21 2004

The weekend started without incident and myself and Tiniest Stinger arrived in Cardiff in time for a late lunch. Post lunch we put on all the warm clothing we had brought with us and waited for our minibus to arrive.

Therefore you can imagine our surprise when a full blown fifty two seater coach turns up and our small DW party get on board. Flags hung over the side windows and the beers cracked open courtesy of Sleepy Pete.

We arrived at Bridgend some one and a half hours before kick off and the coach turned into an already congested car park. The stewards asked “Are you with Wasps?” Of course we were, so they gave us the parking space reserved for the player’s coach!

A couple of beers in the bar under the main stand and then into the ground. We were seated in the main stand (unreserved seats) and we sorted ourselves out with the few seats that were still empty. It soon became apparent that we were sat next to Rob Howley’s sister and family who were there to support Wasps.

As Tiniest had predicted our demise at home the previous week, and was going for a Wasps win in the away leg we had a quiet confidence that we could topple the Warriors and regain the initiative in Pool 6.

As expected the local support kept the worst of their derision for Rob and LBND when the team lists were read out over the tannoy, but I have never been to a match where the home crowd jeer at a knock on in the warm up!

As the kick off was delayed due to the large numbers of folk still waiting to get in to the ground we were royally entertained by the full army brass band, complete with goat as mascot. As Dolly is now showing her age it was suggested that this should be a DW item for the future.

At last the match starts.

Celtic Warriors started the match in the same way as they finished on Sunday - deep in the Wasps half looking for gaps in our defence and penalties. Needless to say we obliged on the latter when Rhino was penalised for a high tackle and Sweeney had an early pot at goal; he missed.

After about 10 minutes (all times are approximate as there was no clock at the ground) Wasps made a break into the Warriors half and we put pressure on their line for the first time. After a break down the right (by Rhino) the ball was spun to the left and Gizzy scored a try in the left hand corner. Kinga missed the conversion (5-0).

The game then got bogged down with errors from both sides, however Wasps were slowly getting on top. A Kinga penalty was neutralised by one from Sweeney (8-3). Warriors frequently attempted the kick and chase through and over our defence, but thankfully the Wasps defence held firm or the move broke down from a knock on from Warriors.

Deep into the first half LBND was on the deck smothered by two Warrior players who were doing there best Frank Bruno impersonation, needless to say both the linesman and referee ignored what was going on and then proceeded to penalise Wasps for offside, and Sweeney lined up to take another kick at goal (and miss).

After a steady start at the line out things started to go awry, and Trev was called up three times (and Phil once) for line outs that were deemed not straight, though I believe that the Rev stated in the bar after the game that at least two of those calls by the ref were rubbish.

Wasps appeared to have the upper hand in the set scrum as we turned them at least twice and moved them backwards frequently, once Howler grabbing the ball from the opposite numbers feet and securing possession for us to launch another attack.

Kinga potted another penalty in injury time and the half time score was 14-3.

Unfortunately all through the game Kinga’s kicks were made to a background of booing and noise, which was a great pity as all the home fans that we met before, during and after the game were all great ambassadors for their club even apologising for those amongst them who perhaps should know better.

Neil ‘one and only’ Jenkins was sent on to start the second half to replace Sweeney and his big boot kept forcing Wasps onto the back foot. However Kinga potted an early second half penalty to widen the gap to 17-3. Then the niggles started to creep into the game; first the CW front row decided not to engage in a set scrum, free kick to CW; then Wasps did the same. By this time the home crowd were relatively quiet but as Jenkins slowly started to get them back into the game with his big kicks down field and with a penalty kick they got a little noisier. However after a high tackle by Horsman resulted in a yellow card and then our own LBND reciprocated in kind, the volume was turned up big time, especially when the resultant penalty kick closed the gap to 8 points and then cut further a few minutes later to 5 points with LBND still off the park.

The Wasps fans around us were all living off our nerves for the last 20 minutes so we were pleased to hear the final whistle go.

Post match we made our way back to the bar to lubricate the now exhausted larynx. As Tiniest Stinger was trying to fall asleep under the table (and he hadn’t touched a drop!) the two of us retired to the coach and awaited the return of the remaining DW’s. When we returned to our ‘Gwesty” at around 11.15 Tiniest also did his own DW impression by wobbling down the street, purely because he had not yet woken up fully.

Saturday morning breaks sunny but frosty. The bad news was that there was no Wasps coverage in the press (we must have got the early editions) but Deb got her baked beans for breakfast (even though they were not officially on the menu) and Sleepy Pete also got a second breakfast courtesy of Tiniest not being able to finish off his monster plateful.

We all wander into Cardiff to purchase rugby apparel and eventually get to the Millennium for our tour at midday. As electric checks were going on we had to return at 1 p.m., so Tiniest, Deb and myself retired for lunch at Pizza Hut and left the others to the delights of a Cardiff hostelry for liquid refreshment.

The tour commences and the facts and figures are most impressive, though the pitch is currently a mess as it has just been re-laid for the forthcoming six nations. After visiting the away dressing room (you are not allowed in the home dressing room, unlike Twickers), a pitch side chat and video on the big screens, we end up in the Royal Box with Tiniest collecting the ‘winners’ trophy.

A quick sprint round the corner to the Cardiff Athletic ground and we take our seats a few minutes before kick off. The players are met by a troupe of dancing girls as they take to the pitch bopping away to some seventies pop classic. The ref, Alan Lewis, that well know Englishman from Ireland (according to local support sat behind us), waited for these females to leave the pitch, the music continued so they kept dancing, and dancing…………. eventually as Lewis was about to usher them off the pitch himself the music was cut and they scampered away.

It was an exciting game with an early Cardiff try followed by Biarritz scoring two tries of their own and taking a decent lead mid way through the first half. Cardiff then clawed their way back with penalty kicks and a try to take a six-point lead midway through the second half. Biarritz then camped in the Cardiff half, opting for lineouts instead of penalty kicks to maintain the pressure. Biarritz eventually scored a try in injury time just to the right of the posts. Can Cardiff win their first match in months? Yes; winning by one point (21-20), as the apparently easy kick is pushed wide.

Tiniest and myself then said our good-byes and headed back to our car to drive back to London. It was comparatively light traffic on the M4 and we made good time, until a driver a little distance ahead apparently fell asleep at the wheel and hit the central reservation barrier. As I was braking to avoid the stationery car in the fast lane the car directly behind me decided to modify the boot of my car with his bonnet with some considerable force. Thankfully both Tiniest and myself were unhurt (save for some very sore necks and misc. aches and pains), but he was quite naturally very frightened. The police, fire engines and ambulance turned up to clear up the resultant mess - so Tiniest then spent the next hour or so sitting in three different police cars and a fire engine whilst we waited for the AA to take us home on the back of a flat bed truck.

An unforgettable tour to Bridgend!!