Darkness Covered the Land
By meursault1879
November 23 2009
As any up and coming sports journalist will probably tell you the key to a decent article is the quality of note taking at the event – I clearly didn’t take that advice. Its 11.38pm on Sunday evening, I’m feeling rather ropey after an hour or two at the 3Gs looking at my notes and panic has definitely set in.
November 23 2009
As any up and coming sports journalist will probably tell you the key to a decent article is the quality of note taking at the event – I clearly didn’t take that advice. Its 11.38pm on Sunday evening, I’m feeling rather ropey after an hour or two at the 3Gs looking at my notes and panic has definitely set in.
A tough match to make my reporting debut but I’ll do my best to convey the events of this afternoon.
I had planned to arrive at the stadium for around two o’clock in order to have pre match discussions with fellow supporters and get a real sense of the atmosphere but you know what they say about best laid plans!
After having one too many sherbets the previous day in an attempt to forget an error filled England performance I witnessed whist experiencing the ‘Twickenham dream’. I woke up to a dull wet morning in Reading with a very sore head. I didn’t actually managed to make it to the ground till around 2.40 and parked myself behind the drummers in Y21.
So to the match, the early exchanges were rather scrappy and edgy with the poor overnight conditions not doing much to help the flow of the game. Around 6mins into the game a powerful scrum from Irish on the half way line resulted in a penalty. This gave Ryan Lamb a chance to open the scoring. Unfortunately the penalty was missed. A couple of minutes later Irish were awarded another penalty around 40m out. Peter Hewat stepped up only to fall short with the kick. Still 0-0.
At this point in my notes I wrote - why no Leannard??
The general feeling before the game was that we were going to give Jamie the kicking duties. Our kicking success rate has been particularly poor recently with both Peter and Ryan struggling. It just seemed the obvious decision to allow Ryan to concentrate on controlling the game and Jamie taking on the responsibility of place kicking.
Falcons opened up the scoring with Jimmy Gopperth kicking a 15min penalty goal. This lead was extended to 0-6 when Irish were penalised for having hands in the ruck. The quality of the game after 20mins was particularly poor. Neither side really dominated proceedings and were making too many errors. The Irish performance up to this point was best represented by a penalty kick to the corner being kicked out dead by Ryan Lamb.
On the 28th minute Newcastle were awarded another penalty which was kicked by Gopperth to take the falcons lead to 0-9. It was clear at this point the game would likely be decided by penalties. Too many unforced errors and trouble at the breakdown really stifled any chance of attacking rugby by either side.
Irish finally got a score after 36mins with Ryan lamb slotting a long range penalty attempt to make it 3-9.
Newcastle came back with another penalty just before half time when a penalty originally awarded to Irish was overturned due to an off the ball incident.
Half time 3 -12 to the falcons.
The first half was generally a half to forget. There was little invention and to add to our woes as supporters the winter chill also made its presence felt and began to bite. Fingers crossed for a better second half to warm things up.
The second half started well from an Irish point of view with Steffon Armitage putting in some good work to fall short close to the line.
On the 49th minute Irish cut the deficit to 6 points with a drop goal from Jamie Lennard. Around the 52min mark a big cheer was heard around the ground with the appearance of Catty for Gower and Malone for Lamb. The changes seem to bear fruit almost immediately a good kick by Catty to the corner resulting in good lineout work ending in a powerful surge to the line by Chris Hala’ufia. The conversion was missed by Peter Hewat which was disappointing.
25min left 11-12 – I really thought at this point that we might actually pull something out of the bag and snatch a really unlikely win. However things really didn’t pick up for the rest of the game.
At this point my notes really become quite sketchy. My notes from an Irish point of view seemed to be filled with knockons and turnovers. The final quarter was more frantic than controlled by either side. The only bright spots in the last 20 were breaks from the Newcastle back three. The falcons sealed their win in the last few minutes with a Gopperth penalty to make the score 11-15.
Full time 11-15.
Today’s game was disappointing by both teams, I also felt Mr Fox had a shocker in the middle. It’s not yet time to panic though. It’s going to be a long season with ups and downs we will surely play a thousand times better. It a shame to lose our unbeaten GP home record in such a way but we will bounce back. I think Toby summed up the general feeling after the game in some quotes I read in the Times this morning –
“I am not best pleased...I was more disappointed by the nature of that defeat than anything. This game will teach you a lesson pretty quickly if you don't pay it enough respect and I think I'm going to have a long look at what I've done this week, because I'm going to need to improve....The coaches are going to need to improve and the players themselves know what they need to do to improve. If you're not leaving every stone and rock unturned you might get taught a lesson."
So onwards and upwards bring on Bath and an improved performance at the Rec.
London Irish: Lennard, Hewat, Seveali'i, Gower, Rudd, Lamb, Richards, Dermody, Coetzee, Ion, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, S. Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Catt for Gower (51), Malone for Lamb (51), Paice for Coetzee (55), Corbisiero for Ion (55), Perry for Kennedy (69), Fisher for Hala'ufia (69).
Newcastle: A. Tait, Williams, Vickerman, Tu'ipulotu, Amesbury, Gopperth, Young, Golding, Vickers, Hayman, Hudson, Sorenson, Swinson, Welch, Balding.
Replacements: Bobo for Williams (51), Williamson for Welch (71), Afu for Balding (59). Not Used: Walker, Ward, Ovens, Charlton, Miller.
Referee: M Fox (RFU)
I had planned to arrive at the stadium for around two o’clock in order to have pre match discussions with fellow supporters and get a real sense of the atmosphere but you know what they say about best laid plans!
After having one too many sherbets the previous day in an attempt to forget an error filled England performance I witnessed whist experiencing the ‘Twickenham dream’. I woke up to a dull wet morning in Reading with a very sore head. I didn’t actually managed to make it to the ground till around 2.40 and parked myself behind the drummers in Y21.
So to the match, the early exchanges were rather scrappy and edgy with the poor overnight conditions not doing much to help the flow of the game. Around 6mins into the game a powerful scrum from Irish on the half way line resulted in a penalty. This gave Ryan Lamb a chance to open the scoring. Unfortunately the penalty was missed. A couple of minutes later Irish were awarded another penalty around 40m out. Peter Hewat stepped up only to fall short with the kick. Still 0-0.
At this point in my notes I wrote - why no Leannard??
The general feeling before the game was that we were going to give Jamie the kicking duties. Our kicking success rate has been particularly poor recently with both Peter and Ryan struggling. It just seemed the obvious decision to allow Ryan to concentrate on controlling the game and Jamie taking on the responsibility of place kicking.
Falcons opened up the scoring with Jimmy Gopperth kicking a 15min penalty goal. This lead was extended to 0-6 when Irish were penalised for having hands in the ruck. The quality of the game after 20mins was particularly poor. Neither side really dominated proceedings and were making too many errors. The Irish performance up to this point was best represented by a penalty kick to the corner being kicked out dead by Ryan Lamb.
On the 28th minute Newcastle were awarded another penalty which was kicked by Gopperth to take the falcons lead to 0-9. It was clear at this point the game would likely be decided by penalties. Too many unforced errors and trouble at the breakdown really stifled any chance of attacking rugby by either side.
Irish finally got a score after 36mins with Ryan lamb slotting a long range penalty attempt to make it 3-9.
Newcastle came back with another penalty just before half time when a penalty originally awarded to Irish was overturned due to an off the ball incident.
Half time 3 -12 to the falcons.
The first half was generally a half to forget. There was little invention and to add to our woes as supporters the winter chill also made its presence felt and began to bite. Fingers crossed for a better second half to warm things up.
The second half started well from an Irish point of view with Steffon Armitage putting in some good work to fall short close to the line.
On the 49th minute Irish cut the deficit to 6 points with a drop goal from Jamie Lennard. Around the 52min mark a big cheer was heard around the ground with the appearance of Catty for Gower and Malone for Lamb. The changes seem to bear fruit almost immediately a good kick by Catty to the corner resulting in good lineout work ending in a powerful surge to the line by Chris Hala’ufia. The conversion was missed by Peter Hewat which was disappointing.
25min left 11-12 – I really thought at this point that we might actually pull something out of the bag and snatch a really unlikely win. However things really didn’t pick up for the rest of the game.
At this point my notes really become quite sketchy. My notes from an Irish point of view seemed to be filled with knockons and turnovers. The final quarter was more frantic than controlled by either side. The only bright spots in the last 20 were breaks from the Newcastle back three. The falcons sealed their win in the last few minutes with a Gopperth penalty to make the score 11-15.
Full time 11-15.
Today’s game was disappointing by both teams, I also felt Mr Fox had a shocker in the middle. It’s not yet time to panic though. It’s going to be a long season with ups and downs we will surely play a thousand times better. It a shame to lose our unbeaten GP home record in such a way but we will bounce back. I think Toby summed up the general feeling after the game in some quotes I read in the Times this morning –
“I am not best pleased...I was more disappointed by the nature of that defeat than anything. This game will teach you a lesson pretty quickly if you don't pay it enough respect and I think I'm going to have a long look at what I've done this week, because I'm going to need to improve....The coaches are going to need to improve and the players themselves know what they need to do to improve. If you're not leaving every stone and rock unturned you might get taught a lesson."
So onwards and upwards bring on Bath and an improved performance at the Rec.
London Irish: Lennard, Hewat, Seveali'i, Gower, Rudd, Lamb, Richards, Dermody, Coetzee, Ion, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, S. Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Catt for Gower (51), Malone for Lamb (51), Paice for Coetzee (55), Corbisiero for Ion (55), Perry for Kennedy (69), Fisher for Hala'ufia (69).
Newcastle: A. Tait, Williams, Vickerman, Tu'ipulotu, Amesbury, Gopperth, Young, Golding, Vickers, Hayman, Hudson, Sorenson, Swinson, Welch, Balding.
Replacements: Bobo for Williams (51), Williamson for Welch (71), Afu for Balding (59). Not Used: Walker, Ward, Ovens, Charlton, Miller.
Referee: M Fox (RFU)
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Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 23/11/2009 21:13
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Re: Darkness Covered the Land
Posted by: Props are not stupid (IP Logged)
Date: 23/11/2009 22:56
Top report, my friend. Let's hope you can report on a better game next time!
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