Time Will Tell - Llanelli Match Report
By Jeep
October 23 2006
9,659 souls turned out for the first ever Friday night game. With an eight o'clock kick off, many people left work early to ensure that they arrived in good time.
October 23 2006
9,659 souls turned out for the first ever Friday night game. With an eight o'clock kick off, many people left work early to ensure that they arrived in good time.
Fortunately Bible Code Sunday were playing and, yes, the Craic
was mighty and back to its best. Who would have guessed that our mascots
were so musically talented?
The atmosphere was buzzing, the stage was set, and Aldermaston RFC were to
welcome the teams on the pitch. Jury's still out on the Heineken jersey -
it just doesn't look very "London Irish", although the main sponsor doesn't
stand out in a sea of colour clash.
Llanelli got things under way, Everett booted it back. suddenly we were 5
metres from our line. There was a bit of a fracas, with Llanelli being
awarded the contents of LI's handbag. Fortunately it went wide of the
sticks. Shortly afterwards was a half chance from Ojo, it's Llanelli's turn
to get pinged. But it was to be a full 17 minutes before the scoreboard was
worried. Simon Easterby killed the ball in front of the referee, penalty to
LI. Barry makes no mistakes, first blood to the Irish.
Barry missed touch from the restart. It was at this point that a "MrTom"
beer seller was given a telling off from a steward - to much amusement.
Llanelli attempted a drop goal but it went back for a simple three points.
3-3. There was a high tackle on Paice, Catt quickly slotted it into the
woodwork and went back for the advantage. 7 or 8 metres out, Declan had a
rush of blood to the head and was yellow carded. It didn't seem to be as
bad as Easterby's killing the ball, but Dec went off for 10 minutes.
At the "meet the coaches" last week we were told that a man down equates to
7 points. Another fight ensured, lots of stamping, and a penalty to London
Irish. Barry converted the points, looking good, a man down and still
scoring points, 6-3.
Llanelli blatantly passed the ball forward in front of the ref, Dodge was
held back but sloppy tackling meant the outcome was inevitable - try and
conversion to our visitors.
A huge kick from Stephen Jones saw the ball sail into the 22, but Barry
found touch (at last!) somewhere near the halfway line. A sloppy period of
play, both sides making mistakes, and the half ended 6-10. Dec's
sin-binning cost us 4 points. It could have been worse!
Taking my match reporting duties seriously, I ran out of the stadium for a
ciggie, so missed the halftime entertainment.
The second half started as the first one finished. Mistakes from both
sides, but Jones finally found touch, 10 metres from the Irish line. The
Irish defence was starting to buckle as Gezzer knocked on. The scrum was
wheeled 90 degrees and London Irish lay down and finally surrendered.
Possession was all Llanelli's. There were glimmers of hope, but as the Irish
defence looked like it would hold, a red shirt sprinted through. Not one,
or twice, but three times. Oh dear.
17 and a half minutes on the clock, Llanelli knock into their own player.
From the scrum things went from bad to worse (from a Llanelli viewpoint!) as
they were judged to be offside. Barry booted for the corner and there was a
sense of urgency about the team. A long throw and Murphy was bundled over.
Barry got the extras. 13-32.
Llanelli were suffering from indiscipline at this point, Skuse being dump
tacked and a high tackle on Rees. 7 and a half minutes left on the clock
and Mapusua went over the line, an easy conversion for Everett. They weren't
finished yet. 20-32.
Time for a Llanelli sin binning. Nathan Thomas had been on the pitch for
about seven minutes as the visitors saw the lead slipping away - dare we say
the game slipping away?
Delon was over. Heads went down about twenty minutes ago, but they're right
back in there. The team believe. Barry missed the conversion.The team
still believe. The atmosphere was electric. Could they do it? The
travelling support were hushed into silence as they could barely watch and
nor could we.
Well, they didn't. Time wasn't on our side and Llanelli got a well deserved
win, 25-32.
The final twenty minutes were sublime, but the first hour was back to the
"old Irish" - missed passes, indiscipline and quite frankly, a mess. Delon
didn't pick up a yellow card for once, dare I say that the squad are
starting to bond?
Time will tell.
was mighty and back to its best. Who would have guessed that our mascots
were so musically talented?
The atmosphere was buzzing, the stage was set, and Aldermaston RFC were to
welcome the teams on the pitch. Jury's still out on the Heineken jersey -
it just doesn't look very "London Irish", although the main sponsor doesn't
stand out in a sea of colour clash.
Llanelli got things under way, Everett booted it back. suddenly we were 5
metres from our line. There was a bit of a fracas, with Llanelli being
awarded the contents of LI's handbag. Fortunately it went wide of the
sticks. Shortly afterwards was a half chance from Ojo, it's Llanelli's turn
to get pinged. But it was to be a full 17 minutes before the scoreboard was
worried. Simon Easterby killed the ball in front of the referee, penalty to
LI. Barry makes no mistakes, first blood to the Irish.
Barry missed touch from the restart. It was at this point that a "MrTom"
beer seller was given a telling off from a steward - to much amusement.
Llanelli attempted a drop goal but it went back for a simple three points.
3-3. There was a high tackle on Paice, Catt quickly slotted it into the
woodwork and went back for the advantage. 7 or 8 metres out, Declan had a
rush of blood to the head and was yellow carded. It didn't seem to be as
bad as Easterby's killing the ball, but Dec went off for 10 minutes.
At the "meet the coaches" last week we were told that a man down equates to
7 points. Another fight ensured, lots of stamping, and a penalty to London
Irish. Barry converted the points, looking good, a man down and still
scoring points, 6-3.
Llanelli blatantly passed the ball forward in front of the ref, Dodge was
held back but sloppy tackling meant the outcome was inevitable - try and
conversion to our visitors.
A huge kick from Stephen Jones saw the ball sail into the 22, but Barry
found touch (at last!) somewhere near the halfway line. A sloppy period of
play, both sides making mistakes, and the half ended 6-10. Dec's
sin-binning cost us 4 points. It could have been worse!
Taking my match reporting duties seriously, I ran out of the stadium for a
ciggie, so missed the halftime entertainment.
The second half started as the first one finished. Mistakes from both
sides, but Jones finally found touch, 10 metres from the Irish line. The
Irish defence was starting to buckle as Gezzer knocked on. The scrum was
wheeled 90 degrees and London Irish lay down and finally surrendered.
Possession was all Llanelli's. There were glimmers of hope, but as the Irish
defence looked like it would hold, a red shirt sprinted through. Not one,
or twice, but three times. Oh dear.
17 and a half minutes on the clock, Llanelli knock into their own player.
From the scrum things went from bad to worse (from a Llanelli viewpoint!) as
they were judged to be offside. Barry booted for the corner and there was a
sense of urgency about the team. A long throw and Murphy was bundled over.
Barry got the extras. 13-32.
Llanelli were suffering from indiscipline at this point, Skuse being dump
tacked and a high tackle on Rees. 7 and a half minutes left on the clock
and Mapusua went over the line, an easy conversion for Everett. They weren't
finished yet. 20-32.
Time for a Llanelli sin binning. Nathan Thomas had been on the pitch for
about seven minutes as the visitors saw the lead slipping away - dare we say
the game slipping away?
Delon was over. Heads went down about twenty minutes ago, but they're right
back in there. The team believe. Barry missed the conversion.The team
still believe. The atmosphere was electric. Could they do it? The
travelling support were hushed into silence as they could barely watch and
nor could we.
Well, they didn't. Time wasn't on our side and Llanelli got a well deserved
win, 25-32.
The final twenty minutes were sublime, but the first hour was back to the
"old Irish" - missed passes, indiscipline and quite frankly, a mess. Delon
didn't pick up a yellow card for once, dare I say that the squad are
starting to bond?
Time will tell.
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