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Exiles come close at Murrayfield


By olw131
December 21 2015

A tough, gritty game at Murrayfield in which we really tested a strong Edinburgh side ended up in a well-fought loss - but a losing bonus point nonetheless. The game featured a little less running rugby and a little more kicking, so the quality of our game management needed to be up to scratch. Thankfully we kicked to relieve pressure well and helped grind out a fairly decent result. I think we can all agree that it is nice to get a point out of such a tricky away game where we were under the cosh for large periods of time.

The Ref

In order to get to Edinburgh, my dad and I had to face the gruelling patience test that is Easyjet at Gatwick. A 'medical emergency' meant that we were kept waiting for half an hour extra - though it felt like more than 5x that...! Believe it or not, however, Easyjet were not the slowest thing we had to face on the day. It was the referee, whose officiating and general control of the scrum had the speed of a snail. A very indecisive, mistake-making snail. He dithered all game, frustrating both sets of forwards and sapping the energy out of the game. Wrong decisions (both for and against Irish) were made continually. And we thought Premiership referees were bad...

The Game

Irish found themselves under pressure right from the start, but after some good kicks to touch from Shane we got some pressure going and so came our first try from Gerard. However, our lead did not last too long as Tom Brown went over in the other end after some very shoddy defending indeed. However, this was not characteristic of our defence all game as we held Edinburgh up relatively solidly all game - as we have been doing in nearly all games this season.

The moments of the game which followed inevitably bore some penalties, but the tricky wind at Murrayfield made it hard for both Shane and Edinburgh's ever-reliable kicker Hidalgo-Clyne. A few sets of 3s had been notched up by both teams, though it is worrying that our scrum did not look at all competent against Edinburgh. Injuries have left us short in the 2nd row, but a front row of Court, Ellis and Franks should surely put up a bit more of a fight against theirs than it did.

Unfortunately it is not our scrum but our lack of cutting edge that really let us down in this game. Much unlike last week, our attacking play slightly lacked precision and our passing game was very much non-existent. There was a period in the 2nd half where we had total possession, but did absolutely nothing with it simply popping the ball player to player and making no yardage whatsoever. At these points in the game where legs get tired, you need a cool head to control your game. We did not show any sign of control here. Further throughout the game when we found ourselves in Edinburgh's 22, Irish were impatient and either spun it out too quickly to the touchline, threw wayward passes or did not help those who were driving towards the tryline. There were gaps in the Edinburgh defence and it is a shame that we did not exploit them well enough due to the occasional pass that did not reach its target, knock on, or going the wrong side/failing to spot the overlap.

Luckily enough we managed to get some sort of game together in their 22, and some considerable pressure on their tryline was finally relieved when Tom Smallbone crashed over. However, once again we failed to make the points count as Hardie sneakily removed himself from the maul and went over the tryline largely undetected. We had a late chance to nick a result, only to be denied by a knock on which was disappointing to say the least, and Edinburgh proceeded to close out the result.

Good result?

A losing bonus point is very much welcome considering both how we played and how badly the ref slowed down the game at points. These tough away days in the Challenge Cup really test if your squad is up to the task. Though we showed a slight lack of precision in attack, our game management was relatively good with Shane and Darren kicking to relieve pressure well, and at times they earned us valuable yardage. It was also nice to see us nicking the odd opposition line out or two - a throwback to the days of Big Bob and Nick Kennedy. If we can continue to improve our cohesion in attack, we look set to get some great results with the likes of McKibbin, Tikoirotuma, Symons, Skivs and Maitland all to return.

MOTM

Tricky one as there were no stunning individual performances, but I would say either Gerard who made some strong breaks & scored (but was unfortunately taken off due to a head injury) or Johnny Williams who showed his usual go-forward, making a few nice breaks but not getting the ball as much as he should have done. Blair Cowan was also impressive, forcing a few Edinburgh penalties and showing his usual blend of athleticism and strength.

All in all, not a bad away day and not a bad result at all. I am looking forward to the Boxing Day game and if TC gets the team selection right and the lads keep working hard in training I think we can give Saints a real run for their money.

Hope you enjoyed reading my first match report folks,
olw131

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Exiles come close at Murrayfield
Discussion started by The Craic www.londonirish.org , 21/12/2015 12:58
The Craic www.londonirish.org
21/12/2015 12:58
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The Artful Badger
21/12/2015 13:11
Good report and sounds as if we played better than seemed on the wireless commentary.

MickeyMouse
21/12/2015 13:15
Crikey, the official match attendance is 3,551 on a stadium that seats 67,800!!! How was the echo?!

jekyll
21/12/2015 20:33
We were all cramped into the lower East stand so couldnt really see how many were there, except that we could see the rest was empty. Great report but some very poor decisions let Edinburgh back in once we had got ahead with 10 mins to go. We must learn to close a game out as both this and the Grenoble game we allowed to slip away. I would have taken a losing bonus point before the game but really we shouldhave had a win

Finno
22/12/2015 10:51
Excellent report...thanks!

mulledwinemarie
22/12/2015 11:38
thank you - have we ever won a game up at Edinburgh??

MWM

LONDON IRISH - and loving it......

LET'S GO IRISH....LET'S GO IRISH
...........

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