Time to show the masses

Fez Alert!!!
By Griff
May 5 2006

Coming into this week's game we can be assured of one thing - disappointment. We simply cannot hope to see another game like Sunday for a long time, never mind back-to-back. We can, of course, hope to see flashes of it and the home crowd deserves a glimpse of the brilliance at the Causeway.

The immediate impact of such a performance on T.V. will be seen in the crowd numbers. I suspect the furore caused by the magnitude of the team's performance on Sunday, along with what looks like good weather will bring a good few. The club's marketting has been pretty good too.

What can we expect, though, on the field ? Well, the team is up and it looks like a conservative selection with a mind to still come away with the win. Key players are being rested for future glories, Catt being the main one and some of the fringe-players get their chance.

These days the team selection for us, though, doesn't hold many terrors. We have a team with enormous spirit who work hard for each other, after Sunday all the boys will be walking with a spring in their step. The only down-side of the media speculation is that there is now a weight of expectation on the boys, a weight which has, in the past, held them back. Time to get rid of that bugbear this weekend.

Sarries will come into the game with their own confidence. They've also beaten Wasps and last week held the mighty Tigers very close in a match I thought they could have won (although the vast majority of pundits say the Tigers should have walked it). They are vastly improved from the team that we beat at Vicarage Road back in a very chilly December with that fantastic final-second penalty from Lord Barry the Boot. With the departure of coach Steve Diamond and the bringing-in of Eddie Jones as advisor Sarries steadied a very suspect rudder and shot the rapids of relegation with great aplomb - nearly making the HC in the end. They have nothing to play for but pride but they'll be very, very keen not to end up onthe wrong end of a Waspsesque spanking.

Thomas Castaignède paid us great respect in his Guardian column on Monday but also gave a warning that he and the Men in Black will be playing for "honour", this should not be under-estimated.

That said, however, I don't think anyone expects anything but a Irish win, and a big one at that, I'd go along with that. Whatever happens I suspect a party will ensue, they're a good bunch the Fezzed-ones. Let the party commence.

The final-word has to be about Irish stalwarts Ryan Strudwick and Kieron Dawson. There are other heroes leaving us for pastures new this season but these two, quite simply, are London Irish. They've been with us through much of the "modern era" and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their mammoth efforts over the years - including, but not exclusively for, that fabulous Powergen Cup victory in 2002. You will be missed chaps, but there will always be a welcome for you at the Madejski and Sunbury.