Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
By SirBurger
March 15 2009
It is frequently said that forwards win games and that backs decide by how much. This phrase is perhaps more applicable to London Irish than most Premiership sides: when the pack shows up, the rapid and skilful backline is able to tear most Guinness Premiership teams to pieces.
March 15 2009
It is frequently said that forwards win games and that backs decide by how much. This phrase is perhaps more applicable to London Irish than most Premiership sides: when the pack shows up, the rapid and skilful backline is able to tear most Guinness Premiership teams to pieces.
However, against Worcester the pack fulfilled both aspects of this ageless axiom, and a Mapasua try apart, it was the forwards who collected the glory as well as carrying out the dog work.
Arriving at the Madejski, the weather was lovely and I was eagerly anticipating an expansive game of rugby from both sides. Confidence, despite recent results, was fairly high. That was until I purchased my programme. As ever I turned immediately to the back-page in order to check any changes to the line-ups and it immediately struck me just how talented a side we were going to be up against. Latham, Gear, Rawlinson, Talei: the Worcester line-up was packed full of genuinely world-class operators.
However, once kick-off came around fears began to subside. Almost immediately Irish applied pressure at a Worcester ruck, in an area where we ourselves have been outplayed in recent weeks, and Mr Wigglesworth blew up for an Irish penalty right underneath the posts. Mike Catt, in a bid to settle any nerves which the young Tom Homer may have been experiencing, took this opportunity to point to the sticks. Homer slotted the penalty with striking coolness. 3-0 Irish.
From the resulting kick-off it was Homer again who impressed. He managed to burst through the attempted tackles of a couple of Worcester players, leaving their defensive line for dead. The break was incredibly classy and eventually the ball found its way to Tagicakibau as Irish looked odds-on for an early try. Unfortunately the ball was knocked-on and Worcester had a chance to relieve the pressure from their 22. Despite this, Irish kept applying the pressure, and the ability of the forwards to retain the ball was already in stark contrast with their ability to do so in recent games. However, in spite of some powerful carries by Chris Hala’Ufia and Elvis Seveali’i, the Worcester defensive pattern remained strong. Disciplined though, it was not and in the ninth minute an infringement occurred at an Irish ruck and Wigglesworth blew for another penalty. Homer again struck the ball with confidence and London Irish were 6-0 up and looking good.
Worcester meanwhile, at this early stage were looking fairly ragged and their cause wasn’t aided by Walker’s inability to make the ball go 10 metres from the following kick-off. This immediately allowed the Exiles to re-apply the pressure and it wasn’t long before more points came. Having attacked well from the resulting scrum, the ball was taken into the Warriors’ 22 before Mike Catt spotted the defence rushing up and poked through a carefully weighted grubber kick. Garvey made a mess of gathering it and consequently allowed Mapasua to touch down for one of the easier tries of his career. 11-0 Irish.
That is not to say that the traffic was all one way and after this score there were periods of play where Worcester looked threatening. However, they did not aid their own cause by committing offences when they did attack and their ability to hold onto the ball at the breakdown was severely lacking. A high kick put up by Chris Latham was well caught by the impressive Homer, who was then taken out in the air, with a penalty being subsequently awarded to Irish. This was fairly typical of the Warriors play: fairly inventive at times, but with little structure or discipline. However, the Warriors did manage to sustain some pressure and were looking quite lively around the Irish 22 metre area. Again though, an infringement was committed, this time crossing, which prevented anything notable coming from some promising moves. An exciting passage of end-to-end rugby though did follow this, with Irish breaking with Paul Hodgson. Hala’Ufia knocked on though and the resulting Worcester counter-attack was a classic example of free-flowing Rugby, with the likes of Lutui and Morris in the front-row carrying out some lovely interplay. Eventually, Worcester got their reward for this promising approach work as Rawlinson burst through the line unopposed. It was a soft score for Irish to concede and our defence at the fringes was certainly lacking. Walker easily converted to make the score 11-7.
After a very bright start it was at this point seeming more and more noticeable that we were going to be in a very tough game. Coetzee misjudged the throw on two line-outs in a row and our play was beginning to lack a bit in cohesion. However almost immediately after commenting on our ineffectiveness at the line-out we won a penalty and Coetzee threw a perfectly weighted lob to Johnson, who came to ground, shifted the ball on one player, allowing Hala’Ufia to rip the ball away and drive into the heart of the Worcester 22. It was clearly a line-out move straight from the training ground and from this set-piece the momentum was with Irish. Tagicakibau made two prominent drives, one of which brought him inches away from the line and Hala’Ufia again made a strong carry, with a ruck being set up to the right of the posts. Hodgson then sent the ball right and Richard Thorpe crashed over the line from close range, in a manner very similar to his score against Sale earlier this season. Very impressively, Homer was able to convert the try, from a fairly wide position, and in doing so made the score 18-7.
From the kick-off Irish committed an offence which has been fairly typical of their play at times this season, immediately gifting the opposition a chance to reply on the scoreboard. Thorpe took the ball up in isolation and was penalised by the referee for holding on. With 7 minutes to go until half-time and positioned right in front of the posts, Willie Walker slotted the ball down the middle to make it 18-10. The rest of the half was notable for a relatively high degree of kicking and despite kicking a couple of balls straight out, Irish managed to gain the ascendancy, with Catt getting one over Latham in a mini-battle within the battle.
The second-half began with Irish fired up and wanting to increase the pressure on Worcester and make their superiority felt on the scoreboard. Having strung together some phases, Worcester once again infringed and Homer converted the penalty from a considerable distance. 21-10 Irish. From the kick-off Irish broke with one of their trademark passages of play. Hala’Ufia burst through the first line of defence before offloading to the ever-present Danaher who found Seveali’i, before the ball found its way to Tagicakibau. The ball was knocked-on, but the break was a joy to behold and reminded us of what it was like to witness the free-running rugby that made us the number one side in the Premiership before Christmas. As a result of Worcester failing to clear the pressure from this move with any authority, Irish had a line-out just inside the Warriors’ 22 and again Irish struck with a move straight off the training ground. The two potential jumpers went to opposite ends of the line, creating a gap in the middle. As a result, the ball could be popped down from the back allowing Hodgson to burst through the middle. Dodge had the nous to offload to Clarke Dermody, who crashed over in the corner for his first ever try for London Irish. The score was looking good at 26-10 and the bonus-point try was now on the agenda.
The second half definitely saw an added zest to Irish’s play and a quick line-out found its way to Paul Hodgson who went on a lovely jinking run before kicking deep and turning the screw on the Worcester defence. Irish subsequently won the ball off a line-out and attacked deep into the Worcester line, with Mapasua and Tagicakibau causing havoc as usual. Eventually Catt placed a lovely pass to Hala’Ufia who burst through the line and dotted down under the posts for the bonus-point score. Homer easily scored bringing the total up to 33-10 to Irish.
Very soon after this Mapasua made a fine break down the centre of the pitch and looked odds on to score. I couldn’t quiet tell from my vantage point but it looked as if he could have made it himself, but instead decided to through the wide pass to Seveali’i, which was unfortunately forward. The pace and power to Irish’s play temporarily subsided and Catt was forced into kicking the ball due to a lack of options outside him. Willie Walker easily charged down, and despite the best efforts of Hodgson, who heroically chased him down, the New Zealander found the line. Having converted, the score stood at 33-17.
Around the 60 minute mark a host of substitutions were brought on in a bid to freshen up the Irish game. I am not sure whether this worked or not, but Tonga Lea’aeota, James Buckland, Kieran Roche and Steffon Armitage were all brought on in the pack. It was also around this time that I noted a lovely reverse flip-offload from Catt. Although today it was perhaps his defensive work, which for a 37 year old was phenomenal, it was moments like that which reminded us of what a talent we have been fortunate to have on our hands for these past few seasons. A true great.
Eventually a vigour began to return to the Irish attack with Catt, Hodgson and Mapasua stringing some wide passes together, bringing the likes of Thompstone and Tagicakibau onto the ball from deep. Homer and Seveali’i also linked up well for a lovely break. With 12 minutes to go the young Jon Fisher came on as a substitute and shortly afterwards James Hudson powered over in the right hand corner to bring the score up to 38-17. Despite the best efforts of Worcester, who seemed to scrummage out the last five minutes, entrenched in our 22, our defence held firm, with Fisher, Danaher and Roche scrambling around the fringes to stop their tight attack from crashing over. Eventually they made a mistake and Lalanne, on for Hodgson, was able to kick the ball out for full time.
I think in light of recent results a bonus point victory today was a very good effort. All of the boys had excellent games, with Dermody, Thorpe and Hala’Ufia being superb in the pack. However, for me the man of the match would have to be Paul Hodgson who was excellent. If we get through the Northampton game with another win, and maybe a bonus point, things will be looking good. After that Delon and Nick will return to boost us further. Maybe the play-offs aren’t out of reach after all.
Arriving at the Madejski, the weather was lovely and I was eagerly anticipating an expansive game of rugby from both sides. Confidence, despite recent results, was fairly high. That was until I purchased my programme. As ever I turned immediately to the back-page in order to check any changes to the line-ups and it immediately struck me just how talented a side we were going to be up against. Latham, Gear, Rawlinson, Talei: the Worcester line-up was packed full of genuinely world-class operators.
However, once kick-off came around fears began to subside. Almost immediately Irish applied pressure at a Worcester ruck, in an area where we ourselves have been outplayed in recent weeks, and Mr Wigglesworth blew up for an Irish penalty right underneath the posts. Mike Catt, in a bid to settle any nerves which the young Tom Homer may have been experiencing, took this opportunity to point to the sticks. Homer slotted the penalty with striking coolness. 3-0 Irish.
From the resulting kick-off it was Homer again who impressed. He managed to burst through the attempted tackles of a couple of Worcester players, leaving their defensive line for dead. The break was incredibly classy and eventually the ball found its way to Tagicakibau as Irish looked odds-on for an early try. Unfortunately the ball was knocked-on and Worcester had a chance to relieve the pressure from their 22. Despite this, Irish kept applying the pressure, and the ability of the forwards to retain the ball was already in stark contrast with their ability to do so in recent games. However, in spite of some powerful carries by Chris Hala’Ufia and Elvis Seveali’i, the Worcester defensive pattern remained strong. Disciplined though, it was not and in the ninth minute an infringement occurred at an Irish ruck and Wigglesworth blew for another penalty. Homer again struck the ball with confidence and London Irish were 6-0 up and looking good.
Worcester meanwhile, at this early stage were looking fairly ragged and their cause wasn’t aided by Walker’s inability to make the ball go 10 metres from the following kick-off. This immediately allowed the Exiles to re-apply the pressure and it wasn’t long before more points came. Having attacked well from the resulting scrum, the ball was taken into the Warriors’ 22 before Mike Catt spotted the defence rushing up and poked through a carefully weighted grubber kick. Garvey made a mess of gathering it and consequently allowed Mapasua to touch down for one of the easier tries of his career. 11-0 Irish.
That is not to say that the traffic was all one way and after this score there were periods of play where Worcester looked threatening. However, they did not aid their own cause by committing offences when they did attack and their ability to hold onto the ball at the breakdown was severely lacking. A high kick put up by Chris Latham was well caught by the impressive Homer, who was then taken out in the air, with a penalty being subsequently awarded to Irish. This was fairly typical of the Warriors play: fairly inventive at times, but with little structure or discipline. However, the Warriors did manage to sustain some pressure and were looking quite lively around the Irish 22 metre area. Again though, an infringement was committed, this time crossing, which prevented anything notable coming from some promising moves. An exciting passage of end-to-end rugby though did follow this, with Irish breaking with Paul Hodgson. Hala’Ufia knocked on though and the resulting Worcester counter-attack was a classic example of free-flowing Rugby, with the likes of Lutui and Morris in the front-row carrying out some lovely interplay. Eventually, Worcester got their reward for this promising approach work as Rawlinson burst through the line unopposed. It was a soft score for Irish to concede and our defence at the fringes was certainly lacking. Walker easily converted to make the score 11-7.
After a very bright start it was at this point seeming more and more noticeable that we were going to be in a very tough game. Coetzee misjudged the throw on two line-outs in a row and our play was beginning to lack a bit in cohesion. However almost immediately after commenting on our ineffectiveness at the line-out we won a penalty and Coetzee threw a perfectly weighted lob to Johnson, who came to ground, shifted the ball on one player, allowing Hala’Ufia to rip the ball away and drive into the heart of the Worcester 22. It was clearly a line-out move straight from the training ground and from this set-piece the momentum was with Irish. Tagicakibau made two prominent drives, one of which brought him inches away from the line and Hala’Ufia again made a strong carry, with a ruck being set up to the right of the posts. Hodgson then sent the ball right and Richard Thorpe crashed over the line from close range, in a manner very similar to his score against Sale earlier this season. Very impressively, Homer was able to convert the try, from a fairly wide position, and in doing so made the score 18-7.
From the kick-off Irish committed an offence which has been fairly typical of their play at times this season, immediately gifting the opposition a chance to reply on the scoreboard. Thorpe took the ball up in isolation and was penalised by the referee for holding on. With 7 minutes to go until half-time and positioned right in front of the posts, Willie Walker slotted the ball down the middle to make it 18-10. The rest of the half was notable for a relatively high degree of kicking and despite kicking a couple of balls straight out, Irish managed to gain the ascendancy, with Catt getting one over Latham in a mini-battle within the battle.
The second-half began with Irish fired up and wanting to increase the pressure on Worcester and make their superiority felt on the scoreboard. Having strung together some phases, Worcester once again infringed and Homer converted the penalty from a considerable distance. 21-10 Irish. From the kick-off Irish broke with one of their trademark passages of play. Hala’Ufia burst through the first line of defence before offloading to the ever-present Danaher who found Seveali’i, before the ball found its way to Tagicakibau. The ball was knocked-on, but the break was a joy to behold and reminded us of what it was like to witness the free-running rugby that made us the number one side in the Premiership before Christmas. As a result of Worcester failing to clear the pressure from this move with any authority, Irish had a line-out just inside the Warriors’ 22 and again Irish struck with a move straight off the training ground. The two potential jumpers went to opposite ends of the line, creating a gap in the middle. As a result, the ball could be popped down from the back allowing Hodgson to burst through the middle. Dodge had the nous to offload to Clarke Dermody, who crashed over in the corner for his first ever try for London Irish. The score was looking good at 26-10 and the bonus-point try was now on the agenda.
The second half definitely saw an added zest to Irish’s play and a quick line-out found its way to Paul Hodgson who went on a lovely jinking run before kicking deep and turning the screw on the Worcester defence. Irish subsequently won the ball off a line-out and attacked deep into the Worcester line, with Mapasua and Tagicakibau causing havoc as usual. Eventually Catt placed a lovely pass to Hala’Ufia who burst through the line and dotted down under the posts for the bonus-point score. Homer easily scored bringing the total up to 33-10 to Irish.
Very soon after this Mapasua made a fine break down the centre of the pitch and looked odds on to score. I couldn’t quiet tell from my vantage point but it looked as if he could have made it himself, but instead decided to through the wide pass to Seveali’i, which was unfortunately forward. The pace and power to Irish’s play temporarily subsided and Catt was forced into kicking the ball due to a lack of options outside him. Willie Walker easily charged down, and despite the best efforts of Hodgson, who heroically chased him down, the New Zealander found the line. Having converted, the score stood at 33-17.
Around the 60 minute mark a host of substitutions were brought on in a bid to freshen up the Irish game. I am not sure whether this worked or not, but Tonga Lea’aeota, James Buckland, Kieran Roche and Steffon Armitage were all brought on in the pack. It was also around this time that I noted a lovely reverse flip-offload from Catt. Although today it was perhaps his defensive work, which for a 37 year old was phenomenal, it was moments like that which reminded us of what a talent we have been fortunate to have on our hands for these past few seasons. A true great.
Eventually a vigour began to return to the Irish attack with Catt, Hodgson and Mapasua stringing some wide passes together, bringing the likes of Thompstone and Tagicakibau onto the ball from deep. Homer and Seveali’i also linked up well for a lovely break. With 12 minutes to go the young Jon Fisher came on as a substitute and shortly afterwards James Hudson powered over in the right hand corner to bring the score up to 38-17. Despite the best efforts of Worcester, who seemed to scrummage out the last five minutes, entrenched in our 22, our defence held firm, with Fisher, Danaher and Roche scrambling around the fringes to stop their tight attack from crashing over. Eventually they made a mistake and Lalanne, on for Hodgson, was able to kick the ball out for full time.
I think in light of recent results a bonus point victory today was a very good effort. All of the boys had excellent games, with Dermody, Thorpe and Hala’Ufia being superb in the pack. However, for me the man of the match would have to be Paul Hodgson who was excellent. If we get through the Northampton game with another win, and maybe a bonus point, things will be looking good. After that Delon and Nick will return to boost us further. Maybe the play-offs aren’t out of reach after all.
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StumbleuponConfident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 15/03/2009 20:15
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Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: mulledwinemarie (IP Logged)
Date: 15/03/2009 21:49
Thank you - excellent - filled in all the bits that Graham and Topsy were too excited to comment on........listening on line is SOOOOOOOOOOO much better when we win..........
hopefully I will see us win next week........
MWM
London Irish - and loving it...........
hopefully I will see us win next week........
MWM
London Irish - and loving it...........
Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: Eek_the_Weeble (IP Logged)
Date: 16/03/2009 08:24
Great report - thank you
Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: MadMonk (IP Logged)
Date: 16/03/2009 08:34
Great report: filled in the gaps caused by temporary move to south stand. Thanks
Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: Rich H (IP Logged)
Date: 16/03/2009 08:49
Great report: filled in the gaps caused by temporal lobes muddled by Guinness.
Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: JamesC (IP Logged)
Date: 16/03/2009 08:55
lobes or Loobs ?
Re: Confident Irish sweep aside Warriors
Posted by: Carlovian (IP Logged)
Date: 16/03/2009 12:35
Also filled in the gaps when the on-line broadcast kept cutting out!
Thanks very much - great report and a good read.
K
Thanks very much - great report and a good read.
K
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