Stung In More Ways Than One
By Babs_O
March 8 2009
When I left my home this afternoon to make my way to the game, spring was in the air. Blue skies, sun shining. They always say that Wasps are dangerous at this time of year and I was intrigued to see if we could do the double on the Wasps after our double header win over them back in August.
March 8 2009
When I left my home this afternoon to make my way to the game, spring was in the air. Blue skies, sun shining. They always say that Wasps are dangerous at this time of year and I was intrigued to see if we could do the double on the Wasps after our double header win over them back in August.
However there was a change in the skies as I arrived as the heavens opened and the wind picked up considerably. The elements were to have a telling effect on the game. I took my seat in the dreams stand ready for the action to unfold.
A minute in and we get a penalty but Shane misses with his first kick and the wind holds the ball up and it doesn’t even reach the posts. However after 3 min, he is given another chance and takes it with both hands. Irish 3 wasps 0, good start.
10 mins in - after a couple of infringements on our 5m against our scrum - the referee awards a penalty try on the third time of asking. Clarke dermody was the man singled out twice for not binding properly. So once again we are having to play catch up. 11 mins in - Dec gets 10 mins rest for taking out lewsey off the ball after the restart. I'm thinking we like to make it hard for ourselves don’t we! Converted and its 7-3 Wasps.15 mins - another penalty to Wasps, 3 more points to Cipriani. We get another penalty after 18 mins but with wind against us, Shane finds the kick too difficult and it drifts past the right hand post. 23 mins - another kickable penalty to wasps due to a ruck infringement, and another 3 points to Wasps golden boy.
One observation I made in the first half was how often Wasps slowed our ball down to great effect and this had a massive impact on the way we wanted to play the game.
30 mins in - penalty to Irish for going in at the side, Geraghty slots 3 points. 13-6 Wasps. I start to think that we will get a foothold and string some phases together but I was sadly mistaken and on 35 mins, Mr Dermody is pinged again for not binding in the scrum, fortunately this time Cipriani was not able to convert. Last minute of the half and we get a penalty close to half way in front of the posts. In fairness to Shane, given the conditions, it was a difficult kick and as such was not converted so half time its 13-6 to Wasps. Story of the half is too many mistakes, slow ball and no cohesion. I'm also thinking that it’s a good thing we are a second half team…
Second half kicks off with the wind behind Irish and we start off in positive fashion, Maps particularly looking to get us on the front foot. we actually look dangerous, slinging the ball around and looking for the holes in the defence. Wasps are defending well however an incident that seemed to be missed was a shoulder charge on Shane by Cipriani as we were attacking down the left hand side. still baffled as to how the officials missed that one! Anyway 45 mins in and another pen to Irish for a ruck infringement by wasps (seeing the theme here!!). How the ref didn’t reach into his pocket during the game for one of their players is beyond me. Anyway 3 points and we are back in the game. 53 mins in and after Wasps string some phases together it ends with Wasps going over the line on the Irish right hand side. The referee goes to the video ref for what seems like an absolute age and eventually awards the try to Wasps. The conversion is missed and so the score is 18-9 wasps and still a lot for us to do. So catch up rugby yet again and before you know it another penalty to Wasps which is taken and the score is 21-9 with just under 20 to go.
I will take a moment here to bring up another observation. When Bob is on the field and leading the side, he is always talking to the referee and getting in his ear in order to try and make sure we get our fair share of the decisions. However, it seemed to me that Catty was a bit quiet today and hardly said anything to the ref during the entire game. Considering the number of penalties Wasps gave away at the ruck, I found this very surprising indeed.
Anyway back to the action... So we get into the Wasps 22 and after putting pressure on their lineout, we sling the ball wide to Thomstone who gets round Voyce to score a lovely try which is converted. So 21-16 to Irish and you sense that the last 10 mins are going to be the rollercoaster we have seen over the last few weeks. We huff and we puff and almost blow the door down but to no avail. Final score Wasps 21 Irish 16.
My overall thoughts, well what is it about our beloved Irish at the moment that means we are always chasing a game at half time? Granted we were missing a few first choice players today and Wasps did play well to a degree. However I felt the referee was very naïve in letting Wasps continually slow the ball down. Also we seemed to miss some creative spark which could have won us the game. Our squad seems to be struggling and we looked off the pace at times. My man of the match… that man Mapasua, he was everywhere again and was doing everything. Running, passing, tackling and rucking with the best of them. Inspiring stuff. With other results over the weekend we now find ourselves 6th. We will have to pretty much win the remaining games in the league in order to secure a Heineken cup place and a playoff spot.
A minute in and we get a penalty but Shane misses with his first kick and the wind holds the ball up and it doesn’t even reach the posts. However after 3 min, he is given another chance and takes it with both hands. Irish 3 wasps 0, good start.
10 mins in - after a couple of infringements on our 5m against our scrum - the referee awards a penalty try on the third time of asking. Clarke dermody was the man singled out twice for not binding properly. So once again we are having to play catch up. 11 mins in - Dec gets 10 mins rest for taking out lewsey off the ball after the restart. I'm thinking we like to make it hard for ourselves don’t we! Converted and its 7-3 Wasps.15 mins - another penalty to Wasps, 3 more points to Cipriani. We get another penalty after 18 mins but with wind against us, Shane finds the kick too difficult and it drifts past the right hand post. 23 mins - another kickable penalty to wasps due to a ruck infringement, and another 3 points to Wasps golden boy.
One observation I made in the first half was how often Wasps slowed our ball down to great effect and this had a massive impact on the way we wanted to play the game.
30 mins in - penalty to Irish for going in at the side, Geraghty slots 3 points. 13-6 Wasps. I start to think that we will get a foothold and string some phases together but I was sadly mistaken and on 35 mins, Mr Dermody is pinged again for not binding in the scrum, fortunately this time Cipriani was not able to convert. Last minute of the half and we get a penalty close to half way in front of the posts. In fairness to Shane, given the conditions, it was a difficult kick and as such was not converted so half time its 13-6 to Wasps. Story of the half is too many mistakes, slow ball and no cohesion. I'm also thinking that it’s a good thing we are a second half team…
Second half kicks off with the wind behind Irish and we start off in positive fashion, Maps particularly looking to get us on the front foot. we actually look dangerous, slinging the ball around and looking for the holes in the defence. Wasps are defending well however an incident that seemed to be missed was a shoulder charge on Shane by Cipriani as we were attacking down the left hand side. still baffled as to how the officials missed that one! Anyway 45 mins in and another pen to Irish for a ruck infringement by wasps (seeing the theme here!!). How the ref didn’t reach into his pocket during the game for one of their players is beyond me. Anyway 3 points and we are back in the game. 53 mins in and after Wasps string some phases together it ends with Wasps going over the line on the Irish right hand side. The referee goes to the video ref for what seems like an absolute age and eventually awards the try to Wasps. The conversion is missed and so the score is 18-9 wasps and still a lot for us to do. So catch up rugby yet again and before you know it another penalty to Wasps which is taken and the score is 21-9 with just under 20 to go.
I will take a moment here to bring up another observation. When Bob is on the field and leading the side, he is always talking to the referee and getting in his ear in order to try and make sure we get our fair share of the decisions. However, it seemed to me that Catty was a bit quiet today and hardly said anything to the ref during the entire game. Considering the number of penalties Wasps gave away at the ruck, I found this very surprising indeed.
Anyway back to the action... So we get into the Wasps 22 and after putting pressure on their lineout, we sling the ball wide to Thomstone who gets round Voyce to score a lovely try which is converted. So 21-16 to Irish and you sense that the last 10 mins are going to be the rollercoaster we have seen over the last few weeks. We huff and we puff and almost blow the door down but to no avail. Final score Wasps 21 Irish 16.
My overall thoughts, well what is it about our beloved Irish at the moment that means we are always chasing a game at half time? Granted we were missing a few first choice players today and Wasps did play well to a degree. However I felt the referee was very naïve in letting Wasps continually slow the ball down. Also we seemed to miss some creative spark which could have won us the game. Our squad seems to be struggling and we looked off the pace at times. My man of the match… that man Mapasua, he was everywhere again and was doing everything. Running, passing, tackling and rucking with the best of them. Inspiring stuff. With other results over the weekend we now find ourselves 6th. We will have to pretty much win the remaining games in the league in order to secure a Heineken cup place and a playoff spot.
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Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 08/03/2009 22:01
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Re: Stung In More Ways Than One
Posted by: AMS (IP Logged)
Date: 10/03/2009 09:58
Thanks for the report Babs. I wondered if it had looked much different in person than on TV and apparently not...
Re: Stung In More Ways Than One
Posted by: EXNOMAD77 (IP Logged)
Date: 10/03/2009 22:45
About right it was a hard game with some tough knocks, one or two kicks not spot on and some of the rest cost us!
Re: Stung In More Ways Than One
Posted by: JamesC (IP Logged)
Date: 11/03/2009 00:14
Thanks - saves me from watching the tape of the game.
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