Team chooses rival's base to celebrate Heineken Cup victory

Following their stunning victory over cup favourites Leicester, a number of Wasps players and coaches led by Chiswick resident and rugby league legend Shaun Edwards chose the Moran Hotel's Globe Bar in which to celebrate their victory. Whether knowingly or not they had chosen the hotel where their defeated rivals were staying.

Wasps, who seized their second European crown in four years before a world-record club attendance of 81,076 at Twickenham on Sunday, brought the Heineken Cup along with them.

Acton based Wasps were the underdogs in the Heineken Cup final after Leicester had demolished Gloucester in the Zurich Premiership final. With three weeks to prepare their experienced coach Ian McGeechan had them well prepared to counter the threat from the Midlanders particularly the giant Pacific Islander Tuilagi. In the event Wasps were fairly comfortable 25-9 winners with Leicester failing to trouble the score board in the second half.

Moran Hotel's Robert Russell told ChiswickW4.com "Unfortunately as we had been the pre-match base for the Leicester team we also had a number of their less than happy players in the bar drowning their sorrows when the cup arrived!!"

With many of the players and staff living locally the team have often celebrated major victories in the Chiswick area. The plush surroundings of the Globe Bar are a step up from Jack Stamp's Bar (which has since become Balans) where they celebrated their previous win in the competition in 2004.

May 22, 2007