The Season Proper gets Underway

Have we been bored?
By BrianC
August 26 2002

After a long summer devoid of rugby the 2002/3 season is upon us. However enjoyable the pre-season events have been, this weekend we get down to the serious business that is the Zurich Premiership. Our first ever appearance in the Heineken Cup is only several weeks away.

So, how are we going to fare next season? The patrons of this site seem to think we'll do well, with over 90% expecting us to to either better than, or about the same as, last year. However, we can hardly be called an unbiased audience. The pundits seem to be less favourable, most would appear to place us in the middle of the ZP come the end of the season. A few have us down as relegation candidates, though less so than last year. The bookies place us as 5th or 6th favourites with odds between 20/1 and 25/1. I tend to go with the bookies. We have a slightly stronger squad than last year but, with the HC rather than the PPS, a much harder agenda.

The start of the season, as last year, will be crucial. The first few fixtures look like ones we should win. If we fail to get a good start we could find ourselves facing a long, hard season in the Premiership. Alternatively, if we face the opening HC games a few victories tucked under our belt and our confidence sky-high, we'll be ready to take on anybody.

The Heineken Cup is uncharted territory for us. We share our group with Toulouse, Edinburgh and Newport any of whom we can beat on our day. I can't help remembering how, last season, Quins came into this tournament with sky high confidence and some pundits saying they had a chance to go all the way; only to find that there were unceremoniously dumped out early in the pool stages. What effect this had on team morale for the rest of the season is a matter for some conjecture. Toulouse will be favourites to win this group, with our lack of HC experience I would expect us to be pipped by one of the other two teams for the second qualifying place. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Off the field things seem to be in good shape. In excess of 3000 season tickets sold, moreover most of us seem to have received them in time for the start of the season. With a budgeted average gate of 9000 next year, there should be a good atmosphere around the Madstad for most games. The lines of communication between the club and it's supporters seem to be improving, full credit to those involved both within London Irish and the Supporters' Club, keep up the good work.

The LISC Craic team seems to be going from strength to strength. The fact that the best part of 100 people made it over to Dublin for a pre-season friendly, compared to 30 odd for the comparable game against Munster last year, speaks for itself. We've never been the greatest of travellers to away games, this seems to be changing. The Reading four in particular seem to be much more prepared to risk life, limb and liver to support the team at away fixtures. For me, the number we bring to the Toulouse away fixture will be interesting. My guess is that we'll bring 3/400 with us for that game. More than we did for most of the ZP away fixtures last year.

In the 2001/2 season, for those of us who were lucky enough to be a part of it, we saw history being made. We start the 2002/3 season full of confidence. Whatever happens, we're the luckiest bunch of supporters around, we'll have a great time.