There are weeks when life kicks you in the shins with hob nailed boots, and then there are weeks when it pours you a glass of something celebratory and reminds you that timing has a wonderful sense of humour – this week has been one of those. Last Saturday night saw us secure our fourth Brennus in a row (for the 2nd time), the Nations Cup gets underway today, and, by complete coincidence, our friends across the Atlantic are celebrating Independence Day – so it seems only right to mark all three with a theme of “Western Whoop”.
Winning four Brennus titles is one of those milestones that feels surreal when you stop long enough to think about it, although stopping for too long has never really been my strongest quality – as many of you know … 😛 There is always another mad idea in preparation (usually one of mine, but fortunately, history has been kind enough not to keep detailed minutes), another meeting to attend, another ramble to go on about. The fourth Brennus means a great deal because trophies are funny things: most people just see the shiny bit at the end; only a few are aware of the hundreds of hours of preparation, the endless discussions, the logistics, the travel, the setbacks, the near disasters or those weeks when the list of injured players reached double figures.
Today our attention turns to the Nations Cup, which is new to the international rugby calendar. There is something wonderfully civilised about nations coming together to compete fiercely, shake hands afterwards and then immediately begin debating which pint best suits a post match gathering (unless you were at the SdF last Saturday which went no alcohol due to the high temperatures). Someone from France smiles politely before explaining that using the wrong butter is a sin, an Italian starts discussing tomatoes with the seriousness normally reserved for constitutional law, the Aussies arrive in flip flops regardless of the weather, the Spanish wonder why everyone is eating before nine o’clock, the Dutch appear to have cycled there despite living several countries away before realising they didn’t qualify and the English players glare at any player who does not queue for the bar – we all bring our strengths.
Then there are our American friends – Happy Independence Day guys and dolls !!
It always amuses me that every year Britain spends the day politely congratulating America for celebrating the moment they decided they rather fancied managing without all things British. No hard feelings, it’s been 250 years; we’ve recovered and we know y’all still love visiting over here and calling our Tower of London ravens “crows”… However, if we’re being completely honest: your portions remain deeply concerning from both a logistic as well as structural engineering perspective; you’ve also somehow convinced yourselves that biscuits come in tubes and gravy belongs on breakfast plates – all this remains some of modern civilisation’s great mysteries. Of course, we tease because that’s what your cousins from across the pond will do; our special relationship has survived wars, politics, economics and the occasional disagreement about how to pronounce aluminium. I suspect it’ll survive me regularly reminding everyone that football is still played primarily with feet.
What I enjoy most about occasions like these is that they remind us why sport matters; trophies eventually gather dust (and in the case of the Brennus, often have to be repaired after having been used as a surf board, to carry our former scrum half Saito-san and other debaucheries). Results are overtaken, records are broken, but what lasts are the people you shared the journey with, the ridiculous stories that somehow become funnier every year, and the friendships that somehow survive despite spending far too many weekends together, waiting in hotel lobbies wondering why anyone thought a four o’clock start was acceptable.
Winning four Brennus titles is something I know our players are enormously proud of. The Nations Cup now offers another opportunity for national teams to test themselves and, hopefully, create a few more stories that become increasingly exaggerated with every retelling. Oh and by the way, for all the moaners, some of our team did finally make a summer tour, albeit perhaps not all the ones you wanted to see,
As for Independence Day, I hope everyone celebrating has a brilliant one: enjoy the barbecues, the fireworks, that cheeky cigar on the porch with family and reminiscing about all things British and what happened in 1776. We’ll simply remind you that we still make an excellent cup of tea – everyone has their victories.
So here’s to celebrating success with good humour, rugby mates and family and just enough competitive (or liquid) spirit to ensure everyone enjoys tonight at the saloon: after all, celebrating four titles is going to be a wild wild west night !!
