With Argentina beating New Zealand for the first time ever and Newcastle winning down at Bath on the opening day of the Gallagher Premiership 2020/21 season, it makes you think anything is possible in this craziest of years.
However, neither of those results can touch the time when Pertemps Bees knocked mighty Wasps out of the Powergen Cup in 2004.
Before the quarter-final clash in Wycombe, you could get 250/1 on Phil Maynard’s mob winning the match and 750/1 about them going on to win the Cup itself.
Whilst that dream was ended by Newcastle in the last four, no-one can take away the day they slayed the top team in England at the time.
When the Bees rocked up to Adams Park, they saw tickets being advertised for the semi-final trip to Newcastle, giving them added motivation to give the Premiership champions a bloodied nose.
Not that Wasps had taken the opposition lightly in terms of their team selection, as there were no less than six England internationals in the starting XV, with Simon Shaw captain for the day.
By contrast, Bees’ team was largely made up of National League stalwarts like Nick Baxter and Dave Knight, brought together by the wily operator, Maynard, who worked in the motor trade.
“We’d been written off, as you’d expect, but we were having a tremendous season in National One and had a team of experienced guys, all of whom had done good things in their rugby careers and had found their best form. We played it down on the way in, but I always had a sneaking suspicion that we could do something special given the chance,” Maynard said.
And that they did.
Wasps scored four tries from Michael Roberts, Stuart Abbott, George Skivington and Ayoola Erinle.
But six Mark Woodrow penalties and unconverted tries from Baxter and Aaron Takarangi saw Bees to a famous 28-24 victory.
The Powergen Cup was the only thing Wasps didn’t win that season, as they went on to beat Toulouse and Bath in the respective European and Premiership finals.
Sparky Mark Woodrow was soon laying cables again after the Newcastle defeat, as the Bees’ part-timers returned to their day jobs. But on one glorious day in February, they re-energised a cup competition that was in danger of going stale.
