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And the wait for our first away point continues...


By Finno
March 1 2016

It was a painless round trip of 280 miles from Sussex, helped by it being a Sunday. I got my parking from the Tigers website, which was actually to park at the King Power Stadium (Leicester City's ground). There was something a little perverse about parking at a football ground to go see a rugby match! Welford Road is only a 10 minute walk, and I took my place on the terrace with plenty of time to spare. Too much, in fact, my knees struggled with three hours of standing still! Age I suppose!

I like Welford Road, as it's a proper rugby stadium, with a great atmosphere. I was a little disappointed with their 'new stand', it much smaller than it looks on the telly. I suppose the road outside, has something to do with that.

The Match

One benefit from arriving early, was that I witnessed all of the warm up. It was all very relaxed, almost too relaxed considering the importance of the match to London Irish. There didn't seem the focus or steely determination on show, which I would have expected. Perhaps, all the focus came in the five minutes back in the dressing room before kickoff.

Tigers came out of the blocks at 100%, full of determination, refusing an early kick for three points in favour of the corner. Within three minutes, they had run in their first try, without us having touched the ball, if memory serves me correctly. That set the whole tone for the match. Tigers were going to apply maximum pressure, run from everywhere, and put the game to bed as early as possible. After, the third try was dotted down after 30 mins, the contest was over, if indeed, we were ever in it.

Irish just had no answer to Tigers, which seemed in stark contrast to the previous week where we showed encouraging signs against Exeter and competed well for most of the game. It was almost like we'd lost the game before we'd even taken the field, which plays into my theory about the relaxed 'warm up' above.

The try bonus point was secured for Tigers just before halftime.  26-3 to Tigers at halftime.  I really feared for us in the second half, never mind the '38 curse of Finno' this could be much worse!

In the second half, we had a lot more ball, but trying to play ‘catch up’ rugby against a team like Tigers, just plays into their hands with a lot of our errors punished and a lot more that could have been.  I  don't know whether it was Tigers taking their 'foot off the gas' or us deciding to have a go, but we did manage to put an undeserved tinge of respectability to the score, with three well worked tries. Ciaran Hearn showed what he can do, with a bit of space to work with.

The final score ran out at 47-20 to Tigers.

Sir

I always find it difficult, reconcile whether we get a 'raw' deal from most refs or whether is just as a consequence of most teams putting us under huge pressure. Many a match I attend, and leave distraught about how poor the ref was, only to watch the replay on the telly later and adjust my opinion! (last week’s game against Exeter excepted)  We didn't really get any of the 50-50 decisions this week either.

However, the Assistant Referees missed a couple of shockers for both sides. Being so close to the action on the terrace only makes them more baffling. Do you have to be at least forty before you can qualify to be an Assistant Referee in the AP? (note to self - Ask JP at the 'Meet the Ref' evening, this week!)

The Verdict

It's all starting to look a bit grim, with the spectre of relegation looming larger and larger as the weeks pass. To be perfectly honest, it was embarrassing to stand among so many Tigers fans who revelled in how easy it all was, and it was!   Chants of 'enjoy Jersey next season' were difficult to argue with.  A Tigers fan stood next to me, was a little more charitable and said he hoped Wuss got relegated as he was not a Dean Ryan fan (paraphrasing here) and always like his annual trip to the MadStad...loved The Craic, and it was the first fixture he looked to at the start of the season.  Genuine or just pity, it was nice of him to say that.

We're going to have to 'go some' at this stage to avoid the drop, but it's still possible and I'll be there next Saturday at The Rec, with my poor little knees, cheering the boys on. COYI!

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And the wait for our first away point continues...
Discussion started by The Craic www.londonirish.org , 01/03/2016 11:24
The Craic www.londonirish.org
01/03/2016 11:24
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Shawshank
01/03/2016 15:36
Cheers Finno, excellent report. Really sounds like the team didn't want to be there.

You really do deserve a good away win...!

SirBurger
01/03/2016 15:54
Gutting to read that the players weren't warming up with any focus...

Great report though.

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