MOTM?

At least the sun was shining


Leeds Tykes 41 London Irish 16



If Conor O’ Shea was disappointed after the Bath game, he looked utterly dejected today after a tonking by a Leeds side that played like we did last season. Recycle the ball, get it back, kick for territory, simple but oh so effective!

As for Bram “The Boot”, what can one say? Nine from nine on the penalty front, one being a full 55M out. He also added two conversions with his metronomic kicking. “It feels very good, I’ve been working on my angles in training and didn’t think I would miss any of them today. I don’t feel under pressure, because I have been kicking all my sporting life. I’m playing better this season and will not be looking to repeat the 53 games that I had last season. That had a huge effect on my game, I seemed to be carrying niggles and never seemed fit due to fatigue”.

In contrast, Conor reckons the LI players were forewarned of offences on the ground. “We knew from the Wasps game last season that Mr. Goodliffe would penalise any infringements on the ground, we discussed it in the week and looked at it in training. On the field today, lack of discipline cost us the game. We simply came apart at the seams. Leeds are a very, very, very good side. They have a physical, big, well-drilled pack. We know we have lots to do, hands up, and we will do it. Two games do not make a season”.

Conor added that there would be no complaints with regard to the refereeing, “we were calling penalty from the stands before the ref was blowing”.

From a London Irish perspective, there weren’t many positives. As I say, at least the sun was shining. Once Barry slotted the first penalty, we thought it was game on. Once “The Boot” had stuck one over from 55M, we knew we were in trouble. The 9 & 10 just didn’t function, apart from a try-saving catch deep in the second half, Digby had a nightmare, and was probably relieved to be subbed. In the stand, we wanted to know why it hadn’t happened sooner.

When are we going to see Tofty make an appearance? Much as I hold Barry in the highest regard, it wasn’t happening for him today either, kicking apart. Even if Barrett and Tofty came on as a package, we would have had fresh legs if nowt else.

I had a look at the messageboard before penning this report, and Rob touched on something, which was a source of much debate both in the pub afterwards, and in the car on the way home, overtraining. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that they should give the spectators the much-vaunted heart rate monitors, and get back to simple stuff. There were so many examples of players simply looking knackered. Maybe it is psychological, and without a win for some time now, it may become more of a factor, but it must be said that the drive, the enthusiasm, the fire, is not in their bellies.

Our lineout was poor, we are back to all this running around stuff. Guys, we have one of the tallest locks in the league, lift him up as high as you can, and get the hooker to throw it to the clouds!

Bob did well today, and I think will improve as he settles more. He is definitely not afraid to put his body on the line.

Going into tackles standing up, leading with ball and not body, which allows the opposition to rip it out was a major feature today. Yes folks, it was bakery time again. It is incredibly frustrating to watch that amount of turnover ball.

My MOTM for LI was Paul Sackey, he was everywhere, defence, attack, in the side of the scrum. Great performance, gave everything. Closely followed by Mike Horak, solid defensively, and gave us options going forward, fully deserved his try.

Do not take anything away from Leeds today; they played very well, their summer signings of Ross and Albanese look to have been inspired. Ross was the general in the middle of the park today, but he does have some special guys around him. That Scarbrough is one special youngster. Palmer was brilliant in the lineout, winning Leeds own and causing no end of grief on our throws. There was a choice for Leeds MOTM. BVS for his kicking, Ross for his playmaking, Albinese for his running. I could go on. Our best chance of getting back into the game was foiled by a superb scrimmaging effort causing the scrum to be wheeled under the posts in the 64th minute. ‘Twas game over from then on. The heads visibly sank. Zac had a stormer and won the battle of the forwards for me.

Rossouw continues to be an enigma. The supporters seem to be divided firmly into two camps. 1/ The guy is class; we just don’t give him the ball. 2/ When he does get the ball, he is looking to offload asap.

I’m in Camp 2 on this one, if he’s not getting the ball, do a Sackey, go after it, get it, do something with it. To me, he looks to get rid of it as fast as possible, without having to do any work if possible. One thing is for sure; the jury is still very much out on this man.

Jimmy Cockle gave away a shed load of penalties today, but was under severe pressure. KD does not look sharp, but as I said earlier, the fire is not there. Apart from a very early break and being penalised on 74 for a blatant round the side, Bishop was pretty anonymous.

Leeds Coach Phil Davies felt that this was a harder game than last week, although the Leeds players in his opinion didn’t “have the same edge. London Irish are a good side, and will be a handful for the rest of the season. Our first try was very well worked and I was pleased with teh fancy footwork of Diego (Albanese) to make the second. Mark Regan came off due to receiving a kick in the elbow, you all know how sore hitting your funny bone can be, we didn't want to risk him now that he has some England work to do". Two victories on home turf for Leeds, what will happen next week when they face Quins at The Stoop? Will Leeds travelling nightmares begin again?

We still gave the lads the thumbs up out of the car window, as we hurtled past the Team Coach on the M1. They are still "Our Boys", and we will be giving it plenty next Sunday too.

After Saracens victory at Bath, we must be serious underdogs for next week. Will Fortress Madejski be breached once again? Was Paul Ackford correct all along? Questions that were being asked in lots of cars on the way home, I'm sure.

We won’t be selling many more season tickets if this keeps up.

Maybe we needed a reality check, but we’ve had that now, can the team get back to playing like all of us know you can.

Apologies if it seems like doom and gloom, but there really wasn’t anything to get excited about today. I know the lads probably wanted to get off that pitch as quickly as possible, but I felt they should have come over and acknowledged us after the game. A fair number of us made the trip today, more than last season. Again a great welcome from the Leeds supporters.

The try count wasn’t bad, 2 to 1 in Leeds favour. The rest of the gory details will be rehashed in the papers.

RFB won the half time bomb catching competition, that's twice in a row we've had the gallon of Tetleys away, with DVHC doing the honours last time. The JC shirt sellers had a good day too, selling approximately 100 shirts. Well done, Guys.

A first today, was buying 4 pints of AG for £9!!! in the Original Oak, Reading FC take note.

There was another first today, Finnegan was photographed with a non-alcoholic drink in his hand!!

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon