European Challenge Cup Final / London Irish v Gloucester, Tomorrow 12.15, The Stoop: Mike Catt could have been a Gloucester legend if only someone at Kingsholm had answered the phone. As a newly-arrived 21-year-old from Port Elizabeth, he famously rang up to inquire about a trial but found no one around; he contacted Bath instead.
Fourteen years and 65 international caps later he is still pulling the strings, now for London Irish, so much so that England have come calling again.
Tomorrow, though, will remind Catt of the impatient youth he used to be. Gloucester now boast some seriously talented home-grown discoveries of their own in outhalf Ryan Lamb and centre Anthony Allen, both emerging as a serious threat to English rugby's old school. Both were still in primary when Catt made his Test debut, which is enough to make any creaking senior pro feel old.
What makes tomorrow's generation game at the Twickenham Stoop even more interesting is the sudden extra edge on both sides. If the 34-year-old Catt was about to totter off into retirement, the European Challenge Cup final would simply be a chance for the old and new to nod politely at each other across the age gap. Instead Catt is in England's summer tour party for Australia, filling a spot which a more confident regime might have allocated to Allen or Lamb, both 19. This final is the youngsters' chance to rip off the L-plates and show the old boy what the future really looks like.
Tomorrow, though, could be another dazzling spectacle if Lamb can summon even a fraction of the genius which gave Wasps a real fright in the Premiership a fortnight ago. The battle of the two scrumhalves, Peter Richards and Paul Hodgson, will be instructive, as will James Forrester against Juan Manuel Leguizamon.
The stats say the Exiles, who have beaten Gloucester twice this season, should edge it - but Catt is sure to be feeling his age by the final whistle.
LONDON IRISH: D Armitage; T Ojo, M Catt (capt), R Flutey, S Tagicakibau; B Everitt, P Hodgson; N Hatley, R Russell, R Skuse, B Casey, N Kennedy, K Roche, O Magne, J Leguizamon. Replacements: M Collins, D Paice, D Danaher, P Murphy, B Willis, G Tiesi, S Geraghty.
GLOUCESTER: R Thirlby; J Simpson-Daniel, M Tindall, A Allen, M Foster; R Lamb, P Richards; P Collazo, M Davies, J Forster, J Pendlebury, A Brown, P Buxton (capt), A Hazell, J Forrester. Replacements: O Azam, G Powell, A Eustace, L Narraway, H Thomas, L Mercier, J Bailey.
Referee: N Whitehouse
Guardian Service
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