I got back this evening from a four day trip to Barcelona, and I've got to say it was a great weekend. barca is one of my favourite places anyway,s o when this fixture was announced I made sure I was there. I also took a few mates, mostly RL virgins from London, although two were Aussies.
The game was pretty good, with some nice tries, plenty of off-loads, and some big hits. Michael Monaghan got absolutely cleaned up with a shoulder charge which had the crowd in raptures when it was replayed on the big screen. He got up after a few minutes, only to get smashed again straight away. The crowd was loving it, and the people with me just could not believe that he'd been hit twice like that.
The atmosphere was very good, although it did dip in the last 15 minutes when it was clear Warrington would go on to win. The Dragons aren't playing with any fluency, and I have severe doubts about their coach, but they did at least give it a good go, and were clearly disappointed to lose. There was one song in particular that was joined in by every Catalan (French and Spanish) in the stadium with plenty of flag waving to go along with it.
Unfortunately I missed the Catalonia v Czech Republic game, but the two teams were introduced to the crowd at half time and the tries shown on the big screen. It seemed to go down well with the locals.
Please don't go getting carried away with future prospects of a SL club or anything silly like that, but it was clearly a very successful event. If they do it again next year then I'll deinitely be there.
The game was pretty good, with some nice tries, plenty of off-loads, and some big hits. Michael Monaghan got absolutely cleaned up with a shoulder charge which had the crowd in raptures when it was replayed on the big screen. He got up after a few minutes, only to get smashed again straight away. The crowd was loving it, and the people with me just could not believe that he'd been hit twice like that.
The atmosphere was very good, although it did dip in the last 15 minutes when it was clear Warrington would go on to win. The Dragons aren't playing with any fluency, and I have severe doubts about their coach, but they did at least give it a good go, and were clearly disappointed to lose. There was one song in particular that was joined in by every Catalan (French and Spanish) in the stadium with plenty of flag waving to go along with it.
Unfortunately I missed the Catalonia v Czech Republic game, but the two teams were introduced to the crowd at half time and the tries shown on the big screen. It seemed to go down well with the locals.
Please don't go getting carried away with future prospects of a SL club or anything silly like that, but it was clearly a very successful event. If they do it again next year then I'll deinitely be there.