'Do you remember that memorable tour down the west country?'
'Erm, no' said Pinnzer 'not really...'
What a lovely evening Thursday turned into; three old school mates talking all manner of nonsense.
Pinnzer as 'a victim of crime' made me laugh all evening. He had his bag stolen in the changing rooms at David Lloyd's. He and his daughters had been for a swim. They ended up having to sit in the paddling pool to keep warm. Bless. Tom on the other hand is going to be a dad again. No. 4! Bless. I don't recall contributing much to the conversation but, to be fair I was knackered after watching other people train hard. Good curry later, too.
One of the things that arose out of the earlier training session was how important it is for people to understand each other's play - we have some good players but not all of them have been to training and so weren't au fait with our patterns. For Cavaliers, read Ospreys. Yup, watching Marshall today for SA XV v RoW Xv made me think how much does Lyn Jones need him... is Jones up to laying the law down to someone who has cost the region a tidy sum... is Juju 2step keen to be told how to play the NSO's game? Time will tell.
Chabal was great fun to watch - he doesn't like being messed about in the same way that the 'boks don't like someone out muscling them. Great entertainment. But not great rugby. For those who love attrition, maybe. It was more Somme than Blitzkrieg.
Which brings me back to the tales from the youth tour to the West; as the evening progressed and Tom recounted more stories and snippets of happenings, the light of vague recollection lit in Pinnzer's eyes. I believe Jung called it suppression - "the independent activity of suppressed experience accompanied by alternate consciousness..." Anyway, Pinnzer took up where Tom left off, recounting the Nasty Men from Lydney. Oh dear, it was unpleasant. Still, we are older and wiser now. Except Dave. But Dave knows who knicked their clothes and so, watch out, Mister Thief - Plod is after you...
Dave is, to be fair, wiser than most and younger than some. (But not me - ha!)
Poor Old Dragons. Older and wiser and now playing in the Portaloo Cup. They aren't really good enough to play with the grown ups. What is to be done one wonders... Y'see, Connaught are a development region and they do ok and they are the smallest of the four Irish provinces. But then Ireland has more people to chose from... 
Surely, though, their must be enough big fast fellas in Gwent to get 15 decent units on the park? Half-a-dozen Forster's would make a difference. Thinking about it, ONE Forster would make a difference. Since being made captain he has been superb.
It seems silly to me to let him go. As the garage boys in B&R Motors say - you always need a bit of dog in your team but not in yer Chinese; New College Youth had Tom and Pinnzer...
Central contracts that's what we need...*
Still, the sun is shining and the weather is sweet.
Argies next, yeah?
*err, not for Tom or Pinnzer, please.