Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
By MickeyMouse
January 28 2009
A below strength Irish team win against a very determined Rovigo Team.
Having never been to Italy before, our third and final Euro tour started in Venice. It was well worth giving ourselves a few hours to have a look around the town, what a stunning place! An hour train ride away was Rovigo and we were in our Hotel by 6pm on the Friday…
January 28 2009
A below strength Irish team win against a very determined Rovigo Team.
Having never been to Italy before, our third and final Euro tour started in Venice. It was well worth giving ourselves a few hours to have a look around the town, what a stunning place! An hour train ride away was Rovigo and we were in our Hotel by 6pm on the Friday…
Beware the Italian beers, far too many were had, but Rovigo was a lovely town. One of the reasons I was really keen on doing the ECC tour this season is that you end up in smaller towns out of the way of the main tourist spots and get to see real parts of a country. Rovigo did not fail to impress.
Come to think it, the falling pound didn't fail to impress either...
Onto the game. We arrived at the Rovigo ground, a 20 minute walk from the hotel. Spending an entire €14 per person for the game. Seating is apparently relatively rare in Italian rugby stadia I'm told, often having enormous stairs, which double as seats. This makes seating rather cold.
The game was cold, but not too bad, I've been colder at the MadStad before! We were treated to a game of excellent kicking, supreme defence with both flankers peeling off scrums stopping the opposition scrum-half before his first step, and killing the ball expertly on the floor. Unfortunately the team treating us to this was Rugby Rovigo.
London Irish instead treated us to a disjointed game with little penetration, poor defence at times and absolutely no communication through the backs. Time and again the Rovigo team would find a winger out of place and ping the ball back. In fact early on it had looked as though Rovigo had scored themselves a try, only for the ref to indicate the ball was held up. Our only beacon of light in the first quarter appeared to be Nick Kennedy's return with his superb line-out steals and Elvis Seveai'li who looked to be having fun on the pitch, he made a couple of good clean breaks only to find himself completely on his own with the rest of the team wondering what on earth he was doing with the ball running towards the try line...
It wasn't until 30 minutes had passed in the game that the first points went on the board. Geraghty's second attempt at goal went through the posts and three points were ours. Hopefully that will settle the nerves. It was not to be for only two minutes later Irish were pinged and their 10 slotted the ball effortlessly between the posts.
However, 36 minutes on the board and James Bailey found himself with the ball and some space, one missed tackle and two defenders left to beat who squeeze him to the edge. It looked like he had a spot of white line fever and ruined the chance, however the ball unbelievably appeared in Keiran Roche's hands who easily spots it down for a try. Geraghty missed the conversion leaving the score at 3-8 to Irish.
Irish seemed to gain the upper hand at this point with better penetration and more structure in their attack. However Rovigo's defensive line was just magnificent starving Irish of any space. It appeared quite clear we were missing Hewat, whilst Garaghty's kicking from hand wasn't bad at all once he kicked if he didn't get back to the ball and tackle the receiver, the ball ended up in the hands of their 10 or 15 for the ball to be returned with interest. With Geraghty at the wrong end of the pitch, the ball was usually run and any threats were more than adequately stopped.
At the end of the half, MickeyMouse was most depressed and went out for a beer as you're not allowed to drink in your seats for some reason.
2nd half started and I was still drowning my sorrows, Hudson was on for the superb Kennedy, De Vedia on for the solid if quiet Delon Armitage and Alfredo Lalanne for the Fury who was swallowed up by a flanker at every set piece.
A penalty just as I was reclaiming my seat was scored by Rovigo. However, the replacements seemed to be making a difference with Lalanne feeding the ball to the backs quicker before the inevitable tackle came in and Irish started the half with some real purpose. After a few minutes we were hammering their line and had earned a penalty under the posts. Unfortunately this hard work came to nothing for the Touch Judge called the ref over for indiscipline by Johnson who was sent to the Sin Bin for 10 minutes, the Ref didn't seem to bother to indicate why.
A few minutes later and another infringement led to Rovigo leading, the local crowd went wild at this point, and fair play to them. Their team fully deserved the lead on their defensive performance and superb tactical kicking on their own.
Johnson returned to the pitch with Steffon Armitage who replaced Roach. I was quietly hopeful he could gain some control for Irish. Geraghty finally slotted an Irish penalty to get us back into the lead, he had missed a fair few by this point.
Fortunately for Irish, Geraghty, whilst having a poor game with the boot was finding a few good breaks. Having been stopped short of the line with a superb break shortly after Rovigo's kick, he started a move that ended up with the ball in the hands of Adam Thompstone, who put in a mighty run to score a well deserved try. Geraghty again missed the conversion leaving a 7 point margin.
It was still an extremely close game however, and Rovigo failed to give in, but eventually tiredness started to kick in. Elvis was having an awesome game but didn't manage to get a try himself after a superb break, he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo, who was on for James Bailey, to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute. The game having a comfortable margin, Geraghty makes the kick.
Irish pound at Rovigo at this point looking for their winning bonus point, but it was not to be, and to be honest, it would not have been deserved. Irish have shown throughout this competition a flair and a hunger which was not present today. It's fair to say that the team brought out was not our strongest and had a lot of players that would not normally be first choice starters. However, this was a day for players to step up to get into the first team, and apart from a few good moments from Bailey and Thompstone in particular none of the less regular starters put their hand up.
The post match Craic started off with drinks at the local beer tent, however the queue was a bit ridiculous and Rovigo had put on an exhibition featuring Photo's of the team at various times which was put on for a local lad who had broken his back. After being treated to some free beer and making a contribution for the poor lad, it was time to learn about the team. So who knew Rovigo had won the Italian Championship 4 times in 5 years in the 70's? Or that they had played Richmond?
PS, big thanks to Jim and Gail for returning my hat I’d thought was lost for good somewhere in Dax…!
Come to think it, the falling pound didn't fail to impress either...
Onto the game. We arrived at the Rovigo ground, a 20 minute walk from the hotel. Spending an entire €14 per person for the game. Seating is apparently relatively rare in Italian rugby stadia I'm told, often having enormous stairs, which double as seats. This makes seating rather cold.
The game was cold, but not too bad, I've been colder at the MadStad before! We were treated to a game of excellent kicking, supreme defence with both flankers peeling off scrums stopping the opposition scrum-half before his first step, and killing the ball expertly on the floor. Unfortunately the team treating us to this was Rugby Rovigo.
London Irish instead treated us to a disjointed game with little penetration, poor defence at times and absolutely no communication through the backs. Time and again the Rovigo team would find a winger out of place and ping the ball back. In fact early on it had looked as though Rovigo had scored themselves a try, only for the ref to indicate the ball was held up. Our only beacon of light in the first quarter appeared to be Nick Kennedy's return with his superb line-out steals and Elvis Seveai'li who looked to be having fun on the pitch, he made a couple of good clean breaks only to find himself completely on his own with the rest of the team wondering what on earth he was doing with the ball running towards the try line...
It wasn't until 30 minutes had passed in the game that the first points went on the board. Geraghty's second attempt at goal went through the posts and three points were ours. Hopefully that will settle the nerves. It was not to be for only two minutes later Irish were pinged and their 10 slotted the ball effortlessly between the posts.
However, 36 minutes on the board and James Bailey found himself with the ball and some space, one missed tackle and two defenders left to beat who squeeze him to the edge. It looked like he had a spot of white line fever and ruined the chance, however the ball unbelievably appeared in Keiran Roche's hands who easily spots it down for a try. Geraghty missed the conversion leaving the score at 3-8 to Irish.
Irish seemed to gain the upper hand at this point with better penetration and more structure in their attack. However Rovigo's defensive line was just magnificent starving Irish of any space. It appeared quite clear we were missing Hewat, whilst Garaghty's kicking from hand wasn't bad at all once he kicked if he didn't get back to the ball and tackle the receiver, the ball ended up in the hands of their 10 or 15 for the ball to be returned with interest. With Geraghty at the wrong end of the pitch, the ball was usually run and any threats were more than adequately stopped.
At the end of the half, MickeyMouse was most depressed and went out for a beer as you're not allowed to drink in your seats for some reason.
2nd half started and I was still drowning my sorrows, Hudson was on for the superb Kennedy, De Vedia on for the solid if quiet Delon Armitage and Alfredo Lalanne for the Fury who was swallowed up by a flanker at every set piece.
A penalty just as I was reclaiming my seat was scored by Rovigo. However, the replacements seemed to be making a difference with Lalanne feeding the ball to the backs quicker before the inevitable tackle came in and Irish started the half with some real purpose. After a few minutes we were hammering their line and had earned a penalty under the posts. Unfortunately this hard work came to nothing for the Touch Judge called the ref over for indiscipline by Johnson who was sent to the Sin Bin for 10 minutes, the Ref didn't seem to bother to indicate why.
A few minutes later and another infringement led to Rovigo leading, the local crowd went wild at this point, and fair play to them. Their team fully deserved the lead on their defensive performance and superb tactical kicking on their own.
Johnson returned to the pitch with Steffon Armitage who replaced Roach. I was quietly hopeful he could gain some control for Irish. Geraghty finally slotted an Irish penalty to get us back into the lead, he had missed a fair few by this point.
Fortunately for Irish, Geraghty, whilst having a poor game with the boot was finding a few good breaks. Having been stopped short of the line with a superb break shortly after Rovigo's kick, he started a move that ended up with the ball in the hands of Adam Thompstone, who put in a mighty run to score a well deserved try. Geraghty again missed the conversion leaving a 7 point margin.
It was still an extremely close game however, and Rovigo failed to give in, but eventually tiredness started to kick in. Elvis was having an awesome game but didn't manage to get a try himself after a superb break, he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo, who was on for James Bailey, to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute. The game having a comfortable margin, Geraghty makes the kick.
Irish pound at Rovigo at this point looking for their winning bonus point, but it was not to be, and to be honest, it would not have been deserved. Irish have shown throughout this competition a flair and a hunger which was not present today. It's fair to say that the team brought out was not our strongest and had a lot of players that would not normally be first choice starters. However, this was a day for players to step up to get into the first team, and apart from a few good moments from Bailey and Thompstone in particular none of the less regular starters put their hand up.
The post match Craic started off with drinks at the local beer tent, however the queue was a bit ridiculous and Rovigo had put on an exhibition featuring Photo's of the team at various times which was put on for a local lad who had broken his back. After being treated to some free beer and making a contribution for the poor lad, it was time to learn about the team. So who knew Rovigo had won the Italian Championship 4 times in 5 years in the 70's? Or that they had played Richmond?
PS, big thanks to Jim and Gail for returning my hat I’d thought was lost for good somewhere in Dax…!
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleuponIrish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 00:27
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: Iron Lung (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 09:20
Cracking report Mike, it's almost like I was there... hang on I was and it's exactly as I think it probably happened.
I should add that the local lad they were raising money for was a rugby player.
I should add that the local lad they were raising money for was a rugby player.
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: mackemII (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 10:08
Great report Mike, exactly as we saw it, although Dom would be disappointed you gave the 3rd try to James
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: Iron Lung (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 10:17
Especially as it's his first try for the club (I think).
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: Carlovian (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 10:47
Thanks MM - we couldn't be there, and with no broadcast your report was just what we needed!
K
K
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: Props are not stupid (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 11:16
Hey, great report! As K said, this is about the only info we had of the game, apart from text updates from MadMonk and Jester Jane...
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: MickeyMouse (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 11:41
Hold up, I did say Shabbo got the final try!
"he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo who was on for James Bailey to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute."
Maybe I should have written:
"he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo, who was on for James Bailey, to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute."
Ah heck...!
"he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo who was on for James Bailey to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute."
Maybe I should have written:
"he did however manage to float the pass to Shabbo, who was on for James Bailey, to score Irish's third and final try in the 77th minute."
Ah heck...!
Re: Irish Qualify for ECC Quarter Finals
Posted by: mackemII (IP Logged)
Date: 28/01/2009 12:00
In that case Mike, spot on. And not a word from the Comma Police.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
More London Irish headlines
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 22 (Bath)
- Irish Resist Tiger Mauling
- Home Comforts – A Pleasant Feeling
- Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 22 Worcester (Anglo Welsh)
- Mission Impossible
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 21 Quins (Anglo Welsh)
- 100% Kicking Performance
- Don't Muck Up February