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OPPOSITION AND RIVALRIES
Although this book focuses on the trials and tribulations associated with amateur rugby, please allow us to digress momentarily.
Rugby fans of a certain vintage will be able to make this following link easily enough. Two place names, forever linked through rugby – and true fans will know why. The places? Pontypridd in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales and Brive in the Limou- sine region of France.
These towns – or teams – will always be linked because of what unfolded on one September afternoon in 1997 in what became known in rugby circles as “The Battle of Brive”. It was a European Heineken Cup match that, to put it mildly, was marred by violence and bad tempers. The bad blood that was spilt on the pitch over-spilled into the evening, leading to some Brive players being hospitalised and some of the Pontypridd contingent in court. While it’s poor taste to celebrate violence, the point being illustrated by recalling the event is that these two teams now have a rivalry, a shared history, even though a game between the two sides hasn’t taken place for decades.
