Round-up

Munster 43-9 Ospreys. 12 April 2009. Munster coasted to an easy win in this Heineken Cup quarter final. There were at their best and the Ospreys were very disappointing. One to forget.

Blues 50-12 Gloucester. 18 April 2009. EDF Cup Final. The Blues were in superb form as they put Gloucester to the sword. The Cardiff back row were immense and the first try by Halfpenny was an absolute peach. One of the tries of the season. (see link for match highlights)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7996656.stm

Ospreys 27-18 Dragons. 30 April 2009.

Army 50-7 Navy. 2 May 2009. An entertaining open game albeit a one sided affair. 50,000 crowd at Twickenham.

Leinster 25-6 Munster. 2 May 2009. Heineken Cup semi final. 82,00o people at Croke Park watched a pulsating game as Leinster turned the tables on tournament favourites Munster. The Leinster pack fronted up to the Munster eight and Rocky Elsom had a great game. BOD also played a blinder and his interception and sprint resulted in the try that ended the game for Munster.

Harlequins 0-17 London Irish. 9 May 2009. Premiership semi-final.

Munster 36-10 Ospreys. 15 May 2009. Magners League. Munster ran out comfortable winners to be crowned Magners League champions.

Blues 9 - 6 Toulouse. 11 April 2009

I went down to Cardiff to watch the Heineken Cup quarter final at the Millenium stadium. As usual we had a breakfast at Servinis to set us up for the day. We stumbled upon an old pub called The Vulcan not far from the city centre. Apparently it is the oldest pub in Cardiff and dates back to 1853. It's a bit on the basic side and makes the Rovers Return from Coronation Street look big. Sadly it is due to be demolished soon to make way for a multi storey car park. That's progress for you.

At Cardiff Rugby club visitors bar we met this crazy couple from Italy. They were Calvisano fans and also big Toulouse supporters. Long way to come to support the French team.

Next stop on the pub crawl was the Nos Da pub on the river. At the bar I noticed a lady with a Jamie Robinson testimonial rugby shirt on. I remarked to her that Jamie wasn't even the squad for today's match. It turned out that she was Jamie's mother, Jan Robinson. Spooky. We chatted about Jamie's move to Toulon next season and Nicky's move to Gloucester. Nice lady.

The game turned out to be a tense affair with no tries. Toulouse came the closest to scoring when Dustautoir crashed over the try line, though the replay showed he had knocked it on. The defence of both teams was immense and Blues prop Gethin Jenkins led the way as usual. Xavier Rush and Molitika were superb as well. All the Blues points came from Ben Blair and come the final whistle I think the home side deserved their victory. Not the greatest of games but a fine win.

After the game we had a few pints at Cardiff rugby and watched 4th Street Traffic as they played their usual set of Stereophonics covers. A real good day out.

My man of the match: Gethin.

Worcester 22-8 Saracens. 4 April 2009

Went to Worcester for the first time to watch this Guinness Premiership match. Sixways, the home of Worcester is easy to find; just turn off junction 6 on the M5 and you can't miss it. The ground is in a large industrial area and there are no pubs nearby. On the upside parking is plentiful on the many sideroads surrounding the ground. Don't bother paying the fee to park in the ground, park just outside, and its only a ten minute walk away. Sixways is a decent modern stadium and the new stand built at the start of this season cost about seven million pounds.
The game was pretty boring for the first half, not much sticks in the memory. Second half Worcester began to create more rugby and the try they scored was worthy of winning the game.

My man of the match: Sanderson