I’m going to get a GIF of Bedders’s try on a loop. That way, I’ve got something on hand if I’m ever desperately in need of a giggle.
It’s a long way to the outpost of southern Europe where Stormers play. Rather than spend an unconscionable number of hours in a metal tube going to Cape Town, several of us went for the simpler option of a couple of hours in a metal box going to Worcester.
It’s a European away tie: you didn’t expect us to stay at home, did you?
Going to Worcester meant we could meet up with some old Warriors-supporting friends and also get in the obligatory “cracking weekend spoiled by a game of rugby” that typifies European away games.
Only it wasn’t spoiled, was it? Like the Leinster match, this was a game where we were not expected to do well but the young players did themselves proud and the team can return from their trip with heads held high.
At the appointed time, we gathered at a local hostelry* that was willing to not only show the match but was also happy for us to get some takeaway to eat whilst watching. Some places go above and beyond: treasure them…
I suspect most Sale fans would have approached this game — as with Leinster — just wanting a decent performance, so to get a bonus point is, well, a bonus.
I’ve talked before about this idea that you’d accept a smaller form of failure where a larger failure is likely. Now I find — thanks to QI — that sports psychologists have a term for that sort of thing. It’s known as “COFF” (Cutting Off Future Failure) and is one of the mechanisms that supporters use to cope with the disappointment of not winning.
(For those interested, the others are CORF — Cutting Off Reflected Failure — and BIRF — Basking In Reflected Failure. CORF is justifying a one-off defeat: “If the ref hadn’t missed that forward pass…”. BIRF is relishing failure: “We’re crap and we know it”. For completeness, there’s also BIRG — Basking in Reflected Glory — the meaning of which should be obvious.)
So, if the ref hadn’t missed that forward pass in the lead-up to Stormers’ first try and if we hadn’t buggered up that lineout that gifted them another try, we’d have won that game.
I could almost cut and paste the Leinster report here (s/Guinness/Blackheath stout/g) since there are striking parallels, the most significant of which is the immense performance of the younger/fringe players.
We finished the game with six forwards and five backs under twenty-five years of age. And four of that lot are twenty or less (for the next few days, at least, for a couple of them).
I look at that team and I see potential oozing out of every pore in those academy lads, regardless of whether they’re home-grown or here because of the mismanagement (or misfortune) of their former clubs. Oh, they’re still rough around the edges, of course, still prone to mistakes, but we’ve all got to learn sometime. Coming through a challenge like that can’t be anything less than a huge boost to their experience and self-esteem.
I can’t wait for the days when Tumy and Asher are mullering opposition scrums; when Nye, Tom Curtis, Ricky and Conor are smashing through the midfield and Alex Wills is hurtling down the wing. And that’s without factoring in the already established players…
Perhaps those sports psychologists need another category: BIAG, or Basking in Anticipated Glory.
And of those impressive performances, I’m going to single out Tumy Onasanya for putting in a seventy-minute shift and holding his own against Fouche and Harris for pretty much the whole of it. That he may have flagged a bit in the dying phases is understandable and takes nothing away from a magnificent performance.
Chapeau, Tumy.
All of which sets us up nicely for the winner-takes-all match at home to Stade Rochelaise. (I’m assuming that, as in the Prem, the number of wins is the first tie-breaker if level on points. If not, then there’s a way for them to lose and still go through.)
And now I’m conflicted. My personal priority is the Premiership and I wouldn’t want to jeopardise a top-two (top-four at a pinch) finish for a go in the final sixteen. Give it another couple of years, with the sort of progress we’ve had for the last couple, and I might change my mind. But, for now, beating Gloucester is a higher priority for me than progressing in the Champions Cup. After all, barring a spectacular performance by Stade Francais against Stormers, we should at least be in the Challenge Cup (away trip to Tblisi, anyone?).
If I’m reading the reports right, with the announcement of the England squad, we won’t be able to play LCD, Ben, Fordy or Roebuck against Gloucester. With injuries, it looks like the team for Sunday will necessarily also be the team for Gloucester. I thought the break was so that teams wouldn’t be affected by England call-ups…
Talking of La Rochelle: that win against Leicester was an ominous sign that they’ve thrown off whatever lethargy led to them losing their first two pool games. They could well be without Danty and Buggrit – a big blow – but, as long as Skelton (and everyone else) is on the pitch, they remain a major threat.
I’m going to CORF my way out of this and say that Challenge Cup will do for me and please don’t break anyone that may be needed for the week after.
* Yes, the one referred to in the title…
an old grey dog 