Ten minutes in, 10-0 down. My mood had not lifted. The weather was glum, our play was glum. And yet, suddenly things began to lift. A sudden flick of the switch and Irish turned up to play. Some inventive work around the Sale 22 through Armitage and Allinson eventually led to the ball being spun out wide, before Spratt delivered a try-scoring pass to Bryn Evans. It was a good try. After a great conversion from Homer we were back in the game, only 7-10 down.

Although Sale came back ferociously, it was notable that Clarke Dermody, on his 100th performance for the club was everywhere in defence. Rucking, tackling and competing for ball like a third flanker. Indeed, although I was gutted to lose Jamie Gibson so early on in the game, the arrival of David Sisi merely increased our competitiveness on the floor. The young tyro won two important penalties for his work at the breakdown. A great introduction.

Irish eventually won back possession, and Shingler, showing that he had put his week of mayhem behind him showed some nice touches, with Garvey and Paice also carrying prominently. After a vital turnover from Sisi, after Sale had temporarily won back possession in their own 22, it was Shingler who provided a lovely grubber kick through for Ojo to grab the Exiles' second try of the game. Although the conversion was missed, Irish were now 12-10 up and half way to the bonus point. Or so I thought.

Irish really should have added to their two tries, particularly in the immediate period following Ojo's touch down. The forward pack drove into Sale's phase after phase in the 22, but failed to convert. Dermody was giving Buckley a pasting at scrum time, but no points were to come the way of the Exiles. Have to be much more clinical boys! A lovely Topsy Ojo break was aesthetically pleasing, but did not receive the support that it deserved.

Half time came around, and the second half began in controversy as David Paice was sin-binned for a tip tackle. Andy Powell, the unfortunate recipient, much to his credit did not react to the challenge. Paice spent ten minutes in the sin-bin, during a period of play which Irish went on to dominate. A couple of cameo line-out throws from Matt Garvey during this period were entertaining, but of much more enjoyment were the three points Tom Homer slotted, to match those scored by Nick Macleod during the ten minute sojourn for Paice. Irish came out of this period 13-12 to the good.

However, immediately after Paice's return Irish coughed up possession and the effervescent Kiwi flanker Auva'a carried into Irish territory. Ion was caught offside and Macleod stroked over the resultant penalty. Booth responded by introducing Corbisiero, Rautenbach and Yarde as substitutes, and won a penalty of their own in response. Jarvis stepped up to take it, now that Homer was off, and slotted it well from 40 metres out.

Sale spent the next five minutes or so attacking, but failing to get over the Irish defensive line. A strong tackle from Marland Yarde, however, saw the youngster get caught on the wrong side of the ruck and he was deservedly punished. Macleod put Sale back into the lead 18-19.

What followed was a period of kick-tennis in which Irish were the eventual recipients of a gift from the young Sale full-back Rob Miller. Miller spewed possession about 30 metres out, after knocking on an eminently catchable kick. Irish turned the screw at the scrum and Sale conceded the penalty. Jarvis stepped up and blasted the ball over. Irish had enough to see out the remainder of the game and won 21-19.

As I sat on the train home, discussing the match with LadyB, I was clearly delighted much to her bemusement. As she reminded me I am usually only happy with bonus points. But this performance was a direct antidote to the rubbish spewed up last week. All of the areas in which we were dominated last week were our areas of strength this week. Dermody put in a stellar shift in his 100th performance, and the displays of Sisi, Shingler and Gray were superb for such youngsters. Garvey once again showed that he is the form lock in the Premiership, and Ojo produced his best display of the season. I flicked to the back of the program and analysed our forthcoming fixtures. For all of the doom and gloom at the start of the day, we are in a strong position. Quins aside, our remaining away matches are against relatively weaker opposition. Although we have some tough home games, we should win them. We have some of our stars about to return, and a real chance of getting top 4 once they do. As Toby would say, 'let's go and achieve'.

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