Champions!

This is a back Blip of course, as we didn't get home until after midnight.

It was an excellent day. I could have done with being up an hour earlier but we were away on time and it was a smooth journey up to Manchester until the last part when we had alternate spells of heavy rain and bright sunshine. This made for challenging driving conditions, as the surface water was sprayed up into the bright light by vehicle wheels, making it very difficult to see at times. It did make rainbows though, see extra. We were fortunate that Brian has a work contact in Manchester who arranged free parking for us at his workplace.

Old Trafford is looking tired and shabby and could do with some refurbishment but it is still the Theatre of Dreams! We had a good wander around before going in to take our seats, about 10 rows back behind the goal at the West end. It was a pretty good view.

There was entertainment before the game and at half time from Reverend and the Makers. They've had a few hits and are good if you like indie rock. 

The first half was a dour affair with defence dominating on both sides and messy rucks. The only points came from penalties, one each way. Things continued to be close and tight after half time but our attack started to show signs of finding gaps. Stray passes kept us from scoring until finally Liam Marshall crossed the line finishing a move created by good strong running especially from Toby King. That try was converted, as was another penalty later on. Harry Smith had his kicking boots last night!

10-2 to Wigan Warriors was how it ended. A brutal mutual battering of a game as closely contested finals between evenly matched teams often are. Catalans did have a player sin-binned in each half but none of our points came at those times. 

My Blip now shows the teams coming onto the field before the game. The original looked weird so I swapped it. The atmosphere was amazing as you might expect and once again there was a celebration led by the drummer in the concourse afterwards. Callum is becoming a bit of a star in his own right.

The only downside of the day was the flash of light we saw on the way home. Brian may be about to receive a speeding ticket!