Rugby Drunk

I have to admit that I spent the majority of last weekend watching rugby and having a few shandies.

Well, it was my birthday and the weekend was filled with the best Heineken Cup quarter finals that I can remember.  And that's not just because I have a memory like a sieve.

I can't let these four fabulous games pass without comment.

The Leinster v Clermont Auvergne see-saw on Friday night was brilliant.  I like Leinster and I wanted them to win, but if I'm honest it wouldn't have been the end of the world if they hadn't.

But as a neutral this game had it all: 

• Man of the Match Jamie Heaslip powering over for a brace of tries.
• Jonny Sexton dragging his kicking stats out of the toilet and nailing kick after kick.
• Brock James flushing his usually robotically reliable kicking boots down the bog and turning into as big a choker as Tim Henman.
• Both teams edging ahead before being dragged back by the opposition.

Excellent stuff.  29-28 to Leinster.

Next up Biarritz v Ospreys, and randomly, another 29-28 thriller.

Again, the home team (even though they were playing in Spain) came out on top.  Some of the more amazing points:

• King of Mediocrity and ex-Leeds Carnegie player/full-time sicknote Iain Balshaw scorched over for a try WITHOUT injuring himself.
• Ryan Jones put in a storming performance after looking, well, pretty rubbish in the Six Nations.
• And who can forget one of the most outstanding solo tries to grace the competition.  Step up Takzuda Ngwenya:

Awesome stuff.

Next up was Munster v Northampton Saints: the game I was really looking forward to.

As a patriotic kind of girl I was firmly behind the Saints, who were the only English team left in the competition.  As a result, this was the game I enjoyed watching the least - not because it was a poor game, but because it meant a bit more.  I was gutted as Saints lost.

Highlights/lowlights:

• The impatient Sky Sports cameras venturing into the Northampton dressing room before kick-off.  Five seconds later they made a hasty retreat thanks to a chorus of expletives beign shouted out by the pumped up players.
• The atmosphere at Thomond Park.  Absolutely electric.  I NEED to go and watch a game of this magnitude there at some point in my life.
• Ronan O'Gara, who stopped whingeing about Jonny Sexton and did what he does best and kicked his team home in the second half, 33-19 the final score.
• Northampton captain Dylan Hartley's post match interview.  Credit to him, he fronted up even though he was absolutely gutted.  I just wanted to give him a cuddle.

Finally, there was the epic all French clash between Toulouse and pretty in pink Stade Francais on Sunday.

I very much enjoyed watching:

• Yannick Jauzion weaving his unique magic in the centre.  The man is a class act.
• Toulouse really going for the jugular and ripping Stade apart in the second half.  Very impressive.  42-16 at full time after a half time score of 13-10.  Watch out Leinster.
• Another brilliant try for Cedric Heymans.  I'm still gutted he didn't win try of the year last year.

All this means the semi finals shake down like this:

Leinster v Toulouse
Munster v Biarritz

I can't wait.

However I have to end this post on a sad note.  My team, Leeds Carnegie, were bummed 46-11 by Harlequins.  How rude of them not to give me the only birthday present I'd asked for: a bonus point win!
Boo!  :-(