Rugby Special @ the Stoop

By kewkwin
April 11 2005

Rugby Special - or "How to make friends and influence people" A generally subdued group of Quins people assembled in the East Stand bar this evening for the filming of tonight's Rugby Special in the Colours Bar.

Hosted by John Inverdale, the guests were Sean Fitzpatrick and Brian
"Pit-Bull" Moore (or is it "Nail Bar" now?)

The format was definitely under the control of the production team and there
was little opportunity to interact with Inverdale or the guests. Brian Moore
arrived a minute before filming began.

The opening sequence has a young Quins supporter holding a piece of paper up
behind JI saying "We're staying up!" that was put there at his suggestion.
Possibly for comedic effect. Ah well.....

Into the nitty gritty, JI introduced the location (the Stoop) as being in
the throes of a development that would create arguably the finest club
ground in the country (take 1) world (take 2) or league (take 3) but that
Quins face the very real threat of relegation.

On that he asked a Quins supporter what he thought of promotion/relegation.
The man said that he felt that, considering the vast investments being made
in premiership grounds by some clubs, it was the bottom team THAT DID NOT
HAVE PRIMACY on its ground that should go down. An interesting point but one
that is unlikely to endear us to Leeds and Oirish!

Sean Fitzpatrick said that it wasn't yet clear what was happening (to sharp
intakes of breath in the room) but said that the gent had a good point and
it was clear that some clubs had forgotten about players.

Brian Moore was asked whether Quins could get out of trouble. He said that
the Quins sides he had played in were also inconsistant but had enough
experienced internationals to raise their game when required for cup games
and the like. He questioned where that would come from from this current
side. Where was the spark?

A Quins fan was asked what he felt was to blame for our current predicament
and he said that he felt that too much had been spent on the ground and not
enough on players. He also said that the bottom club should go down.

Another commented that there should be promotion but not necessarily
relegation as in many other sports.

Inverdale said that if Rugby had any ethics at all then there should be
relegation.

Inverdale interviewed some of the Harlequins Ladies and asked them how their
tour of Rome had gone. It was pointed out (forgive me I don't know by whom)
that the tour was to the Isle of Man, not Rome! JI asked what the shirts
said and they had Gladiators written on them....Hence his assumption. Never
mind, we'll edit that out said JI with a laugh.

Inverdale then said that of all the clubs they had visited this year, most
were in the mix for promotion, a cup or as in Wales, had just won the Grand
Slam - Quins was the most subdued audience so far. Perhaps this was because
of events yesterday, perhaps because the bar was only open for half an hour
before!

They then reviewed the games from yesterday and showed quite a lot of the
action from our game (worst luck!) - probably doubling our coverage in
highlights this season! They also showed a fair bit of the Saints and Tykes
games (Tykes looked very, very good).

Brian Moore said that Saints were in trouble and appeared to lack the
confidence to sort it out. He also said that some of their players may be
distracted by the Lions.

On the Lions:

Sean Fitzpatrick said that the Lions should leave Jonny at home (from an AB
perspective!) SF and BM agreed that BOD was still the most likely captain
and that Corry would fight it out with Dayglo for his place.

You had best watch or record the program to see the choices of the pundits.

There was a section on Jonah Lomu where he reveals that even at his peak he
never felt fully fit but was right back to full strength now. He looked very
good in the training shots. Good luck to him.

SF said that Jonah never reached his full potential and Inverdale asked if
he was at full strength during THAT semi-final at HQ.

BM said the game had moved on and that Jonah might never wear a black jersey
again.

On the AB's, SF said that they really needed to get their tight five up to
scratch but that he felt that they would do so and that the AB's would win
the series 2:1.

They had an interesting feature on Shetland Rugby, the most isolated Rugby
Club in the country. Good news is that they don't play in ND1! They
interviewed a real crazy in a viking helmet at the end - their very on
Horned Helmet!

Then it was all over "its a wrap" said John Inverdale....they actually say
that stuff it seems. Brian Moore told an acecdote afterwards about his
description of Grewcock's "gay slap" during a game getting him into trouble
with the Beeb after several complaints were made. He was accosted by
Grewcock who asked him what he meant.... Pit Bull said that if Danny cared
to look the word up he would find it meant a light-hearted approach and that
if he chose to take offence it was because he didn't understand the
language. Grewcock retorted with an eloquent "**** off". Classy geezer.

I wasn't able to grab John Inverdale to ask him to comment on his assertion
in the Daily Telegraph that Rugby "Web site groupies" are even more deranged
than train-spotters...........

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/03/31/srtalk31.xml

I wasn't sure I would not have proved him right!

I was surprised that no Quins players or Management were there as there were
at Wuss but I suppose they have other things on their minds....