Another near miss
Saturday 27th January 2018: Anglo-Welsh Cup: Scarlets v Harlequins: Result – Scarlets 7 Harlequins 35; Outcome – Quins progress one step further to a semi-final spot in the competition.
Followers of this column know the form – if they wish to learn about the ebbs, flows and any other details of this encounter they should direct themselves to the sports section of their favoured Sunday newspaper.
Your reporter’s relationship with this match was first anticipatory but then ultimately non-existent. Having done my Saturday morning chores and settled down to read my newspapers I had soon realised that Quins were scheduled to be playing Scarlets. What better way to spend my afternoon than watching the boys in multi-coloured jerseys, I thought to myself, as the Memsahib went about her business in the kitchen preparing our lunch – that is, if only I could get a ‘pass’ to retire to the sitting-room of our semi-detached in Chiswick for the afternoon.
As good fortune would have it an opportunity came unexpectedly out of the blue when the Boss asked whether I might possibly be going out for the afternoon, e.g. to the pub or for a walk – this as an alternative to my normal practice of retiring to bed for a post-lunch snooze – because she was planning something of a spring clean our upstairs bathroom and bedroom en-suite.
In the latter case this was going to involve the application of a Megaclean Super Grot-Buster solution to the shower drain hole because a month-long build-up of grime, loose hair and God-knows-what-else was obliging anyone taking a shower to stand in ankle deep water as they did so.
My suggestion that I should remain in the sitting-room checking that the television was working normally for two hours minimum so as to enable her to carry out her project of the day having been accepted, I began the quest to establish on which TV channel the Quins match was being broadcast.
That’s where my delicately-built house of cards began to fall apart. It wasn’t going to be on the television!
BT Sport was showing Bath v Newcastle Falcons … and there was some other game being offered afterwards … but my game of choice was not being covered (perhaps BT Sport cannot afford to send a camera crew to Wales).
I went on the internet to try and establish if there was a local BBC radio station – or indeed unofficial (semi-legal) streaming service – providing a live commentary or pictures.
There was not.
At this point it seemed that the only crumb of hope might be that the Quins unofficial website ComeAllWithin chat-room would have advice on the subject – but when I checked all it offered was a chat-thread featuring fans asking or suggesting where coverage could be found, the sum of which was one fan’s signing-off post to the effect “I suppose I’ll have to rely upon the club’s Twitter feed for updates …”.
I pulled out my iPad and retired to my favourite armchair with the Bath v Newcastle Falcons playing on the television and discovered via Twitter that the score in the Scarlets/Quins game was 0-0 at 4 minutes after kick-off.
That was the last I remember because I then dozed off, later to be woken by the sound of the hoover on the landing and an announcement from the television soon afterwards that Quins had won the match 35-7.
(The Quins Twitter feed had ‘frozen’ on the Twitter post sent at 4 minutes after kick-off because apparently, as I subsequently learned from my spouse, you have to keep ‘refreshing’ the screen if you want to get the very latest updates as they happen).
That is a summary of my relationship with this match.
