Last Sunday was one of the biggest games in Harlequins' history, but we were massively frustrated to come out on the losing side against Leinster in the Heineken Cup quarter-final.
The two main things I'll remember about the game were Leinster's defence and their very loud fans. I've never heard a group of away fans make so much noise at The Stoop, and I think they played a massive part in the Irish province's 6-5 win.
I thought at one stage I was in under the posts after I kicked ahead in the second half, but their winger Luke Fitzgerald just nipped in ahead of me. I reckon if the ball had bounced left instead of right, towards him, I'd have made it for a try and that would have changed the complexion of the game completely.
But these are the margins we deal with in top-level rugby and on the day it didn't quite happen for us.
There has been some speculation about the Tom Williams blood injury that allowed Nick Evans back on to the field late in the game. I can assure you that I saw a big cut in Tom's mouth which needed stitches after the match, so any suggestion that the injury was faked is ludicrous.
It was a bit of luck for us that Nick was allowed back on under those circumstances, I suppose, but those are the rules. Hats off to Leinster for the way they defended though.
We've had some experiences as a team in this year's Heineken Cup that I don't think any of us will ever forget. It's been a special journey for us all that will hopefully give us the confidence to kick on and go further next season.
On the positive side, it will allow us to concentrate on trying to win the Guinness Premiership. Friday night against Sale will be a huge game and we'll be out to do the double over the Edgeley Park outfit.
I'm on the bench and will be covering nine and 10 with Evans and Chris Malone out injured, so it would be nice to maybe play a bit of the game at fly-half if I get a chance.
And of course, next week sees the Lions squad announced. All I know at this stage is that I've had my letter saying I'm being considered for selection, but 70 of those letters went out and only half that will be touring.
My hope is that I have a couple of qualities that maybe some of the other scrum-half candidates don't that will be very useful out on the hard grounds in South Africa. But we'll just have to wait and see.
Lastly, I enjoyed my trip to Hell's Kitchen last night! My girlfriend and I were a bit shocked when the steak tartare arrived ... we didn't realise it was raw. But on the plus side, the chips were delicious.
There was a bit of a row between the head waiter and the chef at one point and a few trays were thrown. It looked like a fifty-man brawl was about to kick off but thankfully it all calmed down.
Anyway, come back next week and read my blog - when I hope we'll be celebrating a win over Sale ...
Cheers,
DC
