Programme Notes

Saturday 17th January 2004: v Montauban

Bonjour et bienvenue à The Stoop

Is it really only a month since we last played a home game? After four games on the road it’s good to be back in the welcoming arms of home. Today our visitors are Montauban in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup. These notes were written before the result of the first leg was known, but here’s hoping we have left ourselves a reasonable job to do today.

Since our last home game against Centransa we have drawn at Sale, lost by a point at Kingsholm to Gloucester and beaten Newcastle Falcons in a dramatic finish to claim a five point win after Ceri’s late try sealed the bonus. Three rugged hard fought games watched by a noisy following of Quins’ supporters, surprisingly the least impressive performance yielded the best return. C’est la vie!

Newcastle’s ground is looking impressive after all the developments, they have a surfeit of bars and a good balance between standing and sitting opportunities. Alas the same can not be said for Gloucester. How come in the modern era such a pokey little ground with barely a thousand seats is allowed to host ZP Premiership games? Bristol must be kicking themselves!

Quinssa’s last coach was Gloucester and I think it was one of our better ones. Our next one will be Wasps and it’s an odd one as the game is live on Sky and there’s a six pm ko. Quinssa members will be emailed about the travelling options for this, so sit tight and we will be offering a combined coach and match ticket for the early bookers. The coach does tend to fill up quickly so book early and watch your inbox!
Two other very successful events have also taken place recently, Duncan’s tour of the British Museum was very well received even though the engineering works played havoc with some people’s travel. We also had one of England’s two RWC referees at The Stoop, Tony Spreadbury, to entertain an audience of over eighty with his very own personal insights into refereeing, life and the universe. A totally brilliant ninety minutes and this is just the sort of event we hope to bring to our members more often. Thanks to the generous raffle we also raised over £200 with half that figure going to the BPA.

What’s next? I hear you ask. More European travel (fingers crossed) to either Brive or Castres, another cultural museum visit, details will shortly be emailed to our members and probably a few other things, but it’s getting late, the deadline is approaching and I haven’t packed yet!

A last comment, that photo of our two scamps on Manley beach, well it never ceases to bring a smile to my face and makes travelling to and from work in the dark that much more tolerable! Enjoy the game and embrace that unique Quins (and Quinssa) experience. Jusqu'à ce que nous réunissions encore!

Will Warner
Quinssa Chairman