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Ill disciplined Irish lose to Exeter


By olw131
February 22 2016

  On a weekend where Worcester and Newcastle crucially won their games, Irish failed to keep up with their two main rivals and remain at the foot of the table, 5 points below Worcester and 8 behind Andy Goode's Newcastle.

The Game

The heat of this important fixture was intensified when I entered the Mad Stad to discover that seemingly larger-than-usual numbers of both London Irish and Exeter fans had travelled to watch the game. Contrary to the expectations of some, the atmosphere at the Mad Stad was imperious and both sets of fans were in fine voice – the Chiefs supporters spurring their team on with that dreadful 'tomahawk chop' chant, and the Irish fans cheering the boys on in a slightly more orthodox fashion. It was nice to hear the return of a trumpet to the East Stand, which, along with the drums made the atmosphere all the more enjoyable. The expectation was that a pumped-up Irish side would hopefully give the 2nd placed Chiefs a good run for their money.

Kickoff was preceded by an emotional 1 minute silence in remembrance of our former Chairman and youth coach David Fitzgerald, which was well observed. Irish started the game well with a lot of intent and go-forward, which was refreshing to see. We made a very decent Exeter side look quite average in the opening stages as Trev dotted down under the posts after a fantastic break and offload from Topsy. Theo Brophy-Clews slotted the conversion and we went ahead 7-0. Unfortunately, this was short-lived as our indiscipline started to show and we gave away a few penalties, two of which Steenson (who was extremely solid in all areas) kicked, one from the halfway line. Paicey in particular was keen to show his enthusiasm as passionately as he always does, and so the Premiership's top scorer for yellow cards had one more to add to his collection.

In the second half, things turned sour for Irish as they have done far too often this season. Though we started the second half with similar spirited determination as the first, it was our discipline that continued to let us down and after TBC had slotted a penalty, Steenson cancelled those three points out with three of his own. As the penalty count grew further, Chiefs grew into the game and they soon gave themselves something to work with with their scrum half dotting down in the corner completely undetected. Subsequently, both LI props were hauled off to be replaced by the usually reliable Tom Court and Leo Halavatau. You would think that the scrum would be massively improved with perhaps one of our most consistent players in Court and a solid, dependable prop that has done a good job for us for the best part of 4 years in Leo – but you would be wrong. The Irish scrum fell to pieces as the game wore on, both due to the ref's inability to officiate the scrum correctly and our quite astonishing lack of quality. It is quite incredible to see how bad our scrummaging was from this point onwards, and perhaps highlights the gulf in strength our depleted pack has to theirs.

Ian Nagle shortly proceeded to get himself sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on – not so smart thinking for a man who is studying at Cambridge. We found ourselves chasing the game, but miraculously against the run of play Topsy turned over the ball and sprinted almost the entire length of the pitch to give us a lifeline. This was Topsy Ojo in a nutshell; a man who has given his entire career to our club and taken us to places we can look back on with fond (and not-so-fond) memories digging us out of a very deep hole. When a bonus point was starting to look unlikely, our all-time leading try scorer continued his rejuvenated form for this season and gave us the bonus point which may even save our season – it is far from over, after all, and we are no London Welsh. He was greeted on his return from the in-goal area to rapturous applause from all of us in Y24. TBC missed the difficult conversion from out wide and after Steenson had kicked a further penalty of his own, Irish held out to grab the bonus point. Glass half full or half empty? Your choice...

MOTM

Unfortunately injuries have impacted our ability to put a proper Premiership standard team together, but the young Theo Brophy-Clews did very well today given the circumstances. He was essentially thrown into the deep end and I would throw his name into the hat of MOTM contenders because he did his job and was solid if unspectacular. His decision making still needs a bit of work, but hopefully this will come with time. Overall, though, I would pick out Trev who carried well and put in a few really big hits, as well as Fenners who had a solid game sharing the kicks to touch with TBC. Honourable mentions go to Narraway who was very solid as usual, and Topsy whose try was nothing short of superb. Elliott Stooke had a solid debut.

Also, an honourable mention to Dean Richards for his biased, ignorant refereeing which was really quite shocking. I don't think the whole of the blame lies on the ref, but he didn't make it easy for us.

On Reflection

The story of our season seems to be that we start games well, we gain some field position and foray into the opposition's 22, we prod and poke, fluff our lines and give a penalty away and then proceed to capitulate in the second half. The game against Exeter was no exception. If this is the game plan we are trying to execute, then we are clearly not doing it very well because our lack of composure in the opposition's 22 and our indiscipline is massively costing us. Injuries have bitten hard and we're down to the bare bones of our squad, but we should at least be able to play a more competent style of rugby than this. Essentially, to start getting more points in the league table we really need to look at what's costing us on the pitch.

I think that we can stay in the Premiership this season, but only if we maintain our discipline and start getting some composure when in try scoring positions. We have a lot of players out, and it would be very nice if they were to come back soon but the reality is that a lot of them aren't going to. We need to get the most out of the players that are starting and sort out those moments that can cost us games – handling errors and miscued kicks spring to mind. It's disappointing because that match was there for the taking, but there are more winnable games to play and we move on. COYI!

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Ill disciplined Irish lose to Exeter
Discussion started by The Craic www.londonirish.org , 22/02/2016 10:34
The Craic www.londonirish.org
22/02/2016 10:34
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
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Shawshank
22/02/2016 16:41
Great report - especially liked the description of Topsy's try!(Sm53)

Jester
23/02/2016 05:25
I'm sure Mr Richards will love being called biased & ignorant........

Finno
23/02/2016 08:42
Great report!

LLL
23/02/2016 08:57
Quote:
Jester
I'm sure Mr Richards will love being called biased & ignorant........

I agree. eds letting that stand???

Griff
23/02/2016 09:48
Yes, he doesn't call Mr Richards "biased and ignorant", he calls his refereeing "biased and ignorant". It's one man's opinion (actually it's more than one man's opinion) and is perfectly acceptable - I might have highlighted it as such, had I written it. If you want to write the next report then feel free to volunteer.

If Mr Richards wants to contact us about it, or get his solicitors to do so then I'd be more than happy to make a case for olw131's opinion from the match video. I rarely think a referee makes a difference in a match result but since Mr Richards decided to penalise our mauling and not Exeter's and to constantly give scrum penalties to a side whose front-row consistently nose-dived then I actually class this match as one of three I can remember that I think the referee decided the result (and did so before setting-foot on the pitch).

Shawshank
23/02/2016 10:28
Well said Griff...thumbs down

LLL
23/02/2016 10:29
Wow so you think the referee decided that Exeter would win before the match even started.

Generally speaking, in my experience, players and former players think it's a good idea to keep the refereeing community on side. That's where I was coming from.

Perhaps I am just out of touch then if the situation is now that the results of matches are from time to time pre decided by the referees on occasion, as you say. Interesting to understand the stance though, so thanks for coming back.

Props are not stupid
23/02/2016 10:38
Thanks for a report which seems fairly positive in what has been a dreadful week for Irish.

LI Bohemian
23/02/2016 11:17
A good report, you cannot ask for more than someone to say what they truthfully feel about what happened.
I don't think it makes that much of a difference anymore what the official thinks of you after the game, it's when the games playing that counts, and if he's made his mind up, yes maybe beforehand, then that's that.
In light of the perceived change in the way Worcester were treated I think Dean Ryan proved how things work in refereeing terms, coupled with the way Andy Goode, Cockers bully officials (I think it's okay if you get away with it, stance has always been a part of rugby) this is what you will get.
No one anymore see ten yards given for the constant bickering of a captain because he is allowed to "work" the official.
I think that's just the way the sport has gone and it was always going to go that way when it turns into a business, I'm not unhappy about it, it had to happen.

When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.

Foggy-Balla
23/02/2016 11:51
Quote:
LLL
Wow so you think the referee decided that Exeter would win before the match even started.
Generally speaking, in my experience, players and former players think it's a good idea to keep the refereeing community on side. That's where I was coming from.

Perhaps I am just out of touch then if the situation is now that the results of matches are from time to time pre decided by the referees on occasion, as you say. Interesting to understand the stance though, so thanks for coming back.

It's a bit more complicated than that. However I'm sure that at one of the "meet the ref" evenings I've attended a Premiership referee admitted there was a certain degree of assumption as to who might be at fault in certain situations based on a perception of which is the stronger team.

It's all tied up in the concept of contextuality, which is a judgement call...

Faugh-a-Ballagh!

"Our prayer is 'God save Ireland' and pour blessings on her name!"

Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum

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