Delon was given the honour of leading the team out to celebrate his reaching of 100 games for us last week. Quite an achievement considering he’s just 24. The appreciation of his efforts for us was shown by the way of a well deserved standing ovation.

Hewat kicked off with long kick up field. The usual clearance, return (though ran back this time) and better clearance ensued. The resulting LI throw in was well caught by Bob but soon ripped from his big mitts by Vivyan  (a player who’d be a pain all day)

A few minutes later & we saw the 2^nd of what was to become too many turnovers. Delon scooping the ball out of a ruck and passing to Fran who bullocked forwards on his 1^st of many good carries. That guy’s got a pretty reasonable turn of speed for a donkey.

Shortly after, we were to see one of ref Dave Pearson’s stranger (and more controversial) calls. A long pass along Sarrie’s back line was nearly intercepted by Delon but knocked on. Pearson deemed this as a deliberate knock on and awarded Sarries a penalty. A very strange decision indeed seeing as he’d have been under the posts if he caught it (which he very nearly did). The resulting back chat by Delon & Bob led to the penalty being moved 10m forward and well within Jackson’s range.

The penalty was slotted over to give Sarries an early 3-0 lead.

A further Sarries handling error 2 mins later led to a Sarrie being offside. The resulting penalty was scored by Hewat to make it 3-3.

Even from this early stage, it was obvious that both teams were out to play a very open game. The backs were called in and the ball thrown wide at every opportunity.

Catt was not only distributing to the speedsters but willing to run it forward himself. One good run led to a fast pick up by Fran who charged forwards yet again. Steffon continued the good ball carrying. Fast ball from the tackle on him led to various Sarries being offside. Hewat scored the resulting penalty to make it 6-3 to Irish.

2 quick line out steals by Bob & then Nick started a downward spiral for the Sarries lineout.

Further moves by both sides were ruined by bad handling. Sarries were especially guilty of this & could have scored a few more during the game if it wasn’t for these. Then again, we had a few missed chances too.

A penalty to Irish 5m from the Sarries whitewash was put into touch. The resulting forward work led to another Sarrie being offside. Pearson, never shy when it comes to blowing his whistle called it & sent Chesney to the bin. This time, Irish elected to go for the posts & Hewat slotted the ball over to make it 9-3.

3 mins later and Sarries were to close the gap when Delon was penalised for being offside.  With 12 mins of the 1^st half to go, it was now 9-6. The game still hadn’t taken any real shape with most of the points being gifted as opposed to earned. That might sound slightly unfair as the field position was earned. It was the stupid penalties that defences gave away that caused the harm.

It was at this point that Topsy started going above and beyond, coming in field more to get involved. Having been off form for parts of the early season, his return has shown a desire to get back to his best. The opportunity to return some wayward Sarries kicking from early on had given all the encouragement he needed.  The play started by one of his infield runs led to Sarries being penalised for being offside (have you started noticing a theme yet). The resulting penalty was put over the posts by Hewat to make it 12-6.

Sailosi, not wishing to be outplayed by Topsy, was keen to make some yards after Catt had cleverly suckered the Sarries defence into thinking he was about to make a clearance kick. The attempted charge down on him left Sailosi in space. The resulting plays nearly led to Delon scoring in the opposite corner, but a tap tackle by Jackson slowed him up sufficiently enough for the cover to bundle him into touch.

The resulting lineout was one of the few that Sarries won cleanly. It’s just as well that it wasn’t that many as phase led to our old mucker Rodd Penney steaming down the left wing. Thankfully, his step inside Hewat was met by Catt. The ball was stolen and kicked to touch. The relief was to be short-lived as Staunton, Seymour and finally another old favourite, Gussie broke our defences with ease to score the 1^st try of the game. The resulting conversion by Jackson made it 13-12 to the visitors. Just on the stroke of half time.

5 mins into the 2^nd half saw the start of the substitutions. Delon limped off; possibly the result of a knock picked up just before HT to be replaced by Tiesi & Dan Murphy came on for Faan.

A bit of handbags between Gussie & Roach was awarded as a penalty to Sarries. Thankfully, Jackson failed to extend the Sarries lead. He was however back on form 2 mins later when Tonga was done for using his shoulder. It was now 16-12 to Sarries, but never looked as if it was getting away.

The game continued to be a scrappy affair with far too many penalties, handling errors and slow ball until a fantastic run by Topsy broke the gain line at pace, a beautifully waited pass out to Sailosi and another fine run led to the 1^st of LIs 2 tries. Hewat’s conversion attempt hit the upright but Irish had regained the lead. 17-16.

4 mins later & it was Hewat’s turn to remind us that he can choose great running lines. Just as it looked as if he’d carried too far, a pass to the supporting Tiesi was rewards with a try under the posts. The conversion gave Irish a 24-16 lead.

A penalty to Sarries for Mackie coming in from the side meant that Jackson could close the gap to 24-19.

Good work by Sailosi and Thorpe led to Sarries being offside again. Yet again, Hewat punished them by extending Irish’s lead to 27-19. Not bad as he’d just been on the ground injured. I think the only reason he got up was to get away from the sound of Waltzing Matilda being trumpeted out of the East Stand.

With just 5 mins to go, Sarries were rewarded a penalty for a deliberate knock on. Phases from the resulting line out, with more than a hint of a crossing gave Rauluni an easy run in. The conversion was missed but the lead was reduced to 3pts. 27-24.

With 20 seconds left on the clock, an obvious forward pass by Sarries was missed by Pearson, despite being right in front of him. 2 secs later, Sarries were awarded a penalty. Thankfully, Jackson’s ability matched his body language. I think he was carrying a knock. He didn’t want it. The last kick of the game went astray & Irish won.

On the day, Irish were the better team, just, and won, just. But we have to be thankful that Sarries are on a bit of a dip in form. If we’re going to continue our winning streak, we’re going to have to play better than that. Not that we were bad. Just not that good. If you had to define average in rugby terms, that game was it!

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