A Song for Europe

The eagerly awaited Amlin Cup draw was made this week and already hundreds of rugby fans are scouring the web trying to locate the towns where their own team will be going to play. Yes it’s time to start planning the annual (for some) trips to Europe. Six English sides are starting in next season’s competition and the draw has been kinder to some than others.

The Tykes are in the unusual position of having back-to-back European cup seasons. There was ample opportunity, within the draw, for trips to Eire, Spain, Italy and south western France. Lady luck must have felt that she had spent too much time in Leeds at the back end of last season and as a result we have ended up in a group where the only decent trip is Parma. Guess what? We went there last year!  The other two sides in the group play in two of Europe’s grottiest cities – Paris and Bucharest. Even the hardiest of Leeds’ travelling fans does not relish a return to Romania. Before you all gasp with astonishment at my description of Paris as “grotty” I was only thinking in terms of its attractions to a visiting rugby supporter.

The Exeter  Chiefs are Euro-virgins. It would have been nice for them to have come out of the draw  with some games at more picturesque venues than Newcastle and Bourgoin, the latter being a one-eyed town which shuts early! A trip to Montpelier, in the south of France, will go some way to compensate! Falcons fans will also be disappointed although Devon is like a different country for those of us in the frozen north. It is also quite strange when you fly to Exeter, setting off in sunshine and arriving in the dark (winter months only), which makes it feel like quite like a foreign land.

Gloucester has fared slightly better. This is partly due to the fact that they have missed drawing one of the other GP clubs. If I was a Gloucester supporter I would be looking forward to a couple of trips to France (La Rochelle is on the southwest coast!) and a banker trip to Italy. I say banker because the food and drink is always good (except for the polenta & dried fish in Padova) and the people are very hospitable.

The plum draw is a toss-up between ‘Quins and Sale. The mossy Sharks  have trips to France, Spain and Italy to look forward to whilst ‘Quins can enjoy Irish hospitality as well as trips to Italy and the Basque country. Oh well, for us there is always the Heineken Cup to look forward to the following season…..