Dateline 2006. A big problem for West London, with not enough players to tour, we recruited some fowl mouthed blokes in the hope that they would do the fixture justice.
No problem mate - they arrived in Paris totally pisse* just like their predecessors. A bit chicken, they responded well to some cheerful leg pullet er pulling.
An antidote to the 'grippe aviare' was soon found. A chunder a.s.a.p. - followed by copious amounts of rouge. Speaking as a very tired observer on the Sunday morning, I have to say that the level of commitment from a bunch of artists like this lot was nothing short of miraculous. Everyone played as though it was a cup game and made for spectacular entertainment prior to another tranche of drinks and a visit to Stade de France. The next bit is a quote from Paul Clancy's story about the club second row, Tai Leaf.
Now Tai is a big bloke.
You may remember that Tai (1st team 2nd row) got a bit lost on the Sunday night after all the excitement of the big game. After walking around for hours calling out his host's name to no avail, he notices that he is going to freeze to death unless he finds some form of shelter......quote: "the puddles were starting to freeze over". He stumbles across a car park and frantically checks each door, until he finds that a small Peugeot has been left unlocked. All 6ft 3 of him confined to that small 206 until the wee hours of the morning until the rest of Paris are picking their cars up to go to work on Monday morning.
I can't imagine what they were thinking confronted by a 6ft 3 chicken and what happened to the owner of the car.Maybe
he got the bus to work that day.
There must be many more escapades like this and it serves to illustrate that key elements in any tour are; to be organised, be sensible, and respect other people's property and sensitivities. We did have a bit of trouble on the Saturday lunchtime, with a gay cowboy
who tried to rustle some chickens. He was easily dealt with as the birds were bigger than him - or should I say that he was Didier than the birds? No matter what, it was fun, and I'm sure that if you put a group from 1960 in amongst our current team, there would soon be a 'common ground' where the spirit, friendship and 'amitié' of rugby would come to the fore. What a great game - we are priveleged to have the connection between Plessis Meudon and West London. Take away the experience sure, but give your best in return. Us viewers look forward to hearing more from our current tourists - maybe we should take a leaf out of Tai's name and wake up with a bird in the back of a Peugeot 206 in the early hours... what say you West London touristas?
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