Sarries v LI Match Report – 28^th January 2007 13.30 p.m. (Sky Sports)

Thank goodness we’ve a 3 week break coming up because after yesterday’s performance, we need to step back in many areas and have a look at how last year’s ‘off the cuff’ display has degenerated into a game where we made very few decent line breaks and had a penalty try awarded against us. The last 8 weeks have surely made a number of us look at why we follow professional rugby union with the ‘nastiness’ exhibited on various message boards, racism allegations, the impending departure of Riki Flutey and our failure to make any impact on the H Cup. On the plus side the games against Leicester and Toulouse at the Madstad were two of the best games I’ve seen as well as last weeks recovery against Llanelli showing that somewhere in LI there’s a team struggling to get out.

A score line of 8 – 19 to Sarries who were competent without being over elaborate didn’t reflect the rugby skills shown by the respective sides. This may be down to teams showing us far more respect this year than last in that even when attacking, they know that losing the ball allowed the LI team of last year to score just about from anywhere. They had 3 tries disallowed in the 1^st half; 2 for a foot on the touchline and 1 for a ‘flip’ pass that went forward when there was a 2 to 1 overlap. On a different day, we might have taken a rather large beating.

The game started with Glen Jackson kicking the ball towards the East Stand playing with a reasonable breeze blowing from the North West corner of the ground. For the next 15 minutes, LI dominated possession and made good ground without ever convincing that they were going to make the decisive break. The Geezer was evident around the park but as LI failed to make the break, his running became more and more like that of a talented U13 player running across the pitch rather than making the ball do the work. I for one was not surprised when he didn’t reappear for the 2^nd half. One thing I did note was that after each set of phases, a Sarries player went down injured which seemed to stop any momentum we were building. 3 times in the 1^st 10 minutes there were significant breaks in play without any of the players requiring to go off.

When Sarries did finally run the ball for the 1^st time, they nearly scored in the corner of the ground where I was sitting with Mike Catt stopping the try by slapping the ball out of Richard Haughton’s hands into touch. From a series of lineout drives, Dave Pearson eventually awarded a Penalty after the TV Ref ruled that the ball wasn’t grounded which Glen Jackson converted to make it 3 – 0 after 17 minutes.

5 minutes later the TV Ref was called on again on the far side of the pitch after the Linesman had put his flag up just as Sarries were scoring a try. Dave Pearson should have believed him as the replay vindicated the decision. The replay showed Delon Armitage making a try saving tackle forcing the player out. Within what seemed like seconds, Sarries were back on the attack again and as they came right they had an overlap but were aligend too flat. LI defensive pressure forced a ‘flip’ pass which went forward. It really did no matter what the Sarries support thought as I was right in line. Some small compensation was that Sarries got a Penalty for off-side which Glen Jackson kicked to make it 6 – 0 after 23 minutes.

From the restart, Sarries kick the ball into touch 5 metres from our line. Having caught it cleanly, Topsy tried to take a quick throw to Geezer who was vociferously calling for the ball, only to be tackled in the in-goal area to give Sarries a 5 metre scrum. On the 1^st heave, Beefy goes down and is eventually replaced by Tonga. DP has awarded a further Penalty to Sarries which they opt to scrum, no surprise as they had already taken a LI ball against the head earlier in the game. After one reset, Tonga goes down and the LI scrum breaks up in disarray with DP awarding a Penalty Try which Jackson converts to make it 13 and 2 disallowed tries to 0.

The comparison of our 1^st 15 minutes with the ball and Sarries 15 minutes didn’t make very good reading in my notes which say that LI look slow and have no cutting edge. We seem to be obsessed with trying to run into non-existent gaps looking to perform miracle offloads. Riki Flutey is having the most anonymous game I’ve seen him play. His shirt stays pristine until the final 10 minutes of the game when he’s involved in play and comes up from the bottom of a ruck limping badly. Sheila is taken off with what looks like an injury to his left Achilles and replaced by Neils Mordt.

In the final 10 minutes of the 1^st half LI managed to exert a little pressure and Paul Hodgson called a move with DP acting as blocker. He’s not happy to allow it to proceed but LI got a scrum which eventually led to an LI Penalty on the 22 to the right. Not a very difficult kick but no prizes for the result from Riki FLutey’s boot. The score remained 13 – 0.

From the 22 drop out, Geezer knocked on badly but DP saw it as going backwards. No matter. Geezer tried to chip ahead and within seconds Sarries have raced down the far touchline again only for the Touchjudge to call the try back for foot in touch. God bless you Specasvers!

From the touch we tried to run it from our own 22 but Delon made a horrible clearance into midfield and we go in at the side of a ruck to leave Glen Jackson with the final score of the half to make it 16 – 0. Geezer still has time to knock on again before DP takes the players off the pitch.

The second half saw LI kick the restart towards the Rous Stand which Sarries proceed to drop and which LI re-gather. There’s a period of play right in front of me which can only be described as chaotic. We seem to be playing to our own game plan but taking no cognisance that we’re playing another team as opposed to working on the Training Paddock. Has Gary Gold returned in secret? During the play Visagie goes down clutching his arm. He’s off and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s broken it. From a scrum, Gary Gold’s favourite move of Mike Catt running a crash ball makes its appearance but MC lost possession forward in the tackle and Sarries cleared their line.

Riki Flutey directs a horrible kick to the Sarries Full Back who reciprocates and LI gain a Penalty which RF kicks this time to make it 16 – 3 after 8 minutes.

Sarries can’t make any progress against the wind while play is very scrappy for the next 10 minutes. Suddenly from a 22 metre drop out Glen Jackson produced a piece of magic to break clear down the far touchline. Richard Haughton carried the ball on and Nick Kennedy is penalised for deliberate off-side at a ruck for which DP sin bins him. He looked offside from where I was sitting so despite his complaints, it looks very justified. Glen Jackson kicks the goal to make it 19 -3 with 22 minutes to go.

I noted that ‘another LI lineout move goes awry’ before Danni is replaced by Robbie and Big Bob hurts his shoulder making a great tackle until we get a Penalty which Mike Catt kicks into the corner. We exert some pressure until the move from a penalty which got us two tries against Cardiff last year but a Penalty against every other time it’s been used leads to the inevitable.

We seemed to be making a final effort and passes suddenly started being ‘zinged’ about. Running the ball from our 22 eventually saw Delon scoring with 2 minutes left. Unsurprisingly, we missed the conversion and the game ends with Rodd Penney surely competing for the shortest period spent on the pitch as a substitute before being Sin Binned (for a punch). It can only have been a few seconds.

Game over and maybe in more sense than one. Riki Flutey going puts the professional nature of the game into perspective. On his day he’s ‘a precocious talent’ and I am sorry that he’s leaving. I know that he was in line with being awarded the honourary ‘Irishman’ title and so it’s a shock that it’s not enough to keep him with us. He has ambition and as the Sarries programme shows no international caps to his name. Last year must have felt like the start of something big at LI but it really has gone very flat this year. Wasps have the private backing of Chris Wright I believe and ultimately money talks whether it’s the squad of players, benefits in kind or whatever. Brian Smith always emphasises what a small squad we have at LI. Last year’s success was built on a pre-season build up which couldn’t be repeated this year and we’re ‘off the pace’. LI lost around £1m last year I believe. This year won’t make happy reading either.

If we can’t persuade Tony O’Reailly or such like to bankroll us, we either find money amongst ourselves (pay more!), re-invent what London Irish means in the Thames Valley so that we can create a difference which players like Shane Geraghty hold on to rather than being ‘poached’ or accept the terminal decline that will come eventually. I for one am very grateful for what the current board are doing but my concern is that it won’t be enough and that we’ll go backwards sometime soon.

The events of the last 8 weeks off and on the pitch have their parallels in Professional Football, whether it’s bad natured barracking of spectators and players, players attacking fans, ‘bile’ on message boards and poor professional performances on the pitch whether it’s the level of success at goal kicking or playing the team in front of you rather than slavishly following a game plan. Money will talk and we need to work out how we get more. Time to grow up together!

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