Epilogue
Intro music – heavy bass, cheeky whistle sting
Vix: Morning all and welcome back to Blood, Sweat and Banter – where rugby meets reality TV and the hits keep coming long after the final whistle blows. I'm Vix Hargrove…
Tommy: …and I'm Tommy Harris, here to provide some actual rugby perspective when Vix gets carried away.
Vix: Oh don't worry, Tommy, you'll be getting carried away yourself this week… by your feelings! Because today we're talking Georgia Hotchkiss.
Tommy snorts dramatically.
Tommy: Here we go.
Vix: Now, listeners might remember Georgia's famous meltdown last year. It was everywhere, after all. For those of you who don't: apparently motivated by a somewhat chaotic love-life, Georgia used a live club broadcast to take potshots at male rugby players with opinions on the women's game.
Tommy: Yeah, yeah, don't remind me.
Vix: That's right – she landed a couple of hits on you specifically, Tommy, didn't she?
Tommy: Was it me specifically? I'm not sure that…
Vix: Producer Charlie's got the clip right here in fact, so we can play it and all remind ourselves of what exactly Georgia said.
A soundbite clip cuts into the studio session.
Georgia Hotchkiss' recorded voice says: I know whose insight on how players are thinking and feeling I'd rather listen to right now.
Newsflash – it's not you. You might be taller, heavier.
You might be faster. You might have a podcast, but you're not better at rugby.
Vix: Painful memories, there, Tom?
Tommy: Painful recollections there all round, I think. I thought her career was toast. Club players don't normally bounce back in public opinion from full-on meltdowns.
Vix: Well, she hasn't just bounced back. This weekend she lifted silverware with Westcliffe and is shortly heading off to England camp ahead of her eighth successive appearance at the Six Nations.
Tommy: Certainly her second season as captain seems to have gone more smoothly than her first.
Vix: Both on and off the pitch, it seems! Georgia's had another viral moment – this time climbing over the barriers, trophy in hand, to celebrate with her childhood team and – and the cameras loved this bit – making us all swoon by proposing to her old captain right there in the stands.
Tommy: Yeah, well, don't start giving me all that – you'll give the girlfriend ideas! She's already eyeing up every diamond we pass…
Vix: Honestly, Tommy, you should take notes from Hotch on the romance front!
Tommy: Look, good for her, but -
Vix: But nothing. She proved everyone wrong, even you and me. Medal round her neck, girlfriend – fiancée – on her arm, headlines back in her favour. Georgia Hotchkiss is thriving. Meanwhile, you're still sulking!
Tommy (spluttering): I'm not sulking!
Vix: You're still sulking! Listeners, producer Charlie, you can hear it, right? Anyway – lesson of the week: never bet against Georgia Hotchkiss. She'll beat you on the pitch, in the press room, and apparently in romance too! And now, a word from our sponsors, Breakline…