Most of yesterday was taken up with an expedition to watch the Harlequins lose 14-29 to London Irish at the Madejski Stadium in Reading. Actually, I need to correct that. The purpose of the expedition was to watch the Harlequins play rugby against London Irish - not specifically to watch them lose 14-29 … and thereby place themselves in material danger of being drawn into the impending relegation dog-fight.

Naturally our project involved a significant quantity of alcohol and a pre-match lunch at a countryside pub. To be honest, Quins were only sporadically in the game and the margin of victory accurately reflected the hosts’ superiority. From a rugby point of view the outing was therefore a disappointment. Unlike the company & fun we had undertaking it.