Falcons on Tour at the Richard Hill Testimonial

 

That's what we had a Richard Hill's benefit game on Sunday at Watford, where I thought I'd take the opportunity to watch one Falcon - Matt Burke - and a former Falcon - Owen Finegan - trot out for a World XV against a Sarries XV.  I won't bore you with all the details, but a look at the World's backline - Mark Robinson, Carlos Spencer, Iain Balshaw, Fraser Waters, Joe Roff, Bruce Reihana and Burke - sort of told the tale of how the game would be played, and so it proved. 

 

Tries from Balshaw (looking fitter and fresher that I've seen him in many years) and Spencer - Spencer's coming after an heroic interception attempt from Thomas Castaignede resulted in Reihana's pass smashing him very near the face and rebounding straight onto the fly-half's boot - led the way, before God made it a third with a line that a diamond cutter would be proud of.  He added a straightforward conversion (his second) and it was 19-0 in less than even time.

 

 

Kris Chesney's try in the corner provided some light relief for Sarries (even though Reihana protested that he held the ball up), but then came one of the afternoon's highlights when prop Ben Broster kicked the difficult conversion as if he'd been doing it all his life.

 

 

It was only light relief though, as three more World tries made it 40-7 at the break.  The score didn't matter though, it was all about entertainment value, and with Castaignede (amongst others) up for some fun, it was proving an enjoyable outing - although I'm certain that the Frenchman didn't mean to run and Burkey, stop and sidestep, only to lose his legs from under him and slide into touch!

 

 

 

 

The second half, with conditions worsening and both sides making changes, was never going to live up to the first (not that it mattered a jot), but there were some memorable moments, such as Spencer's reverse kick that would have landed perfectly into Reihana's hands under the posts had the ball not bounced to safety off the crossbar; the sheer quality of Joe Roff, looking as fresh as he was before his premature retirement; and Castaignede kicking a conversion, and stopping to put his hand to his heart as the tannoy blared out La Marseillaise.  Four more World tries, one more for sarries, and we had a final score of 64-14, with Burke kicking six conversions and allowing referee Wayne Barnes to kick the seventh with the final kick of the game.

 

If referees are frustrated players, then Barnes is very frustrated.  And, come to think of it, frustrating...

 

Don Parsons, Richard Hill's mate from Salisbury RFC came on for the last few minutes, and his first action was to take out Lawrence Dallaglio off the ball as a scrum broke up, therefore fulfilling one of most of our dreams.  He then fulfilled another by treading him in (no, not really, but I can dream...)

 

How about the two with Falcons connections?  Well, Burke looked as good as he has for the past two years; the try was a beauty, and you can only wish that he could line up with such high quality every week in Falcons colours.  As for Finegan, well, in the half of rugby that he played, he did nothing to convince me that he didn't come north a few years past his peak.  This World side will form the basis of the Barbarians team over the next few weeks; they will be a joy to watch.

 

 

And finally, a word for the man of the day, who we all turned up for.  The fact that 9,136 people turned up in atrocious weather to pay tribute to a man who's played six games in two seasons is a testament to the quality, both as a player and as a person - witness the queue of autograph hunters in the shop before the game, none of whom were disappointed - of the man.  The charities that the benefit year are supporting will be boosted by these funds, and no-one would begrudge the money.  HRHRH thinks that he'll be back playing again at some point next season; for his sake, let's hope so, but can he please wait until after Falcons have played them?  All we can say at the moment is thank you for what you've done in your career so far.