London Irish
The Road to Hell
By Big-Al
October 2 2012
An incident on the line between London and Reading had caused major disruption on all services out of Paddington, so as I set off for Worcester, I was not sure how long the journey would take – but as it turned out, it was a better journey than that experienced by many of those who went by road – including the team. Having deliberately taken an early train (from experience, I know that Friday evenings are not the best time for punctuality on the railways), despite a delay and the train terminating at Shrub Hill rather than Foregate Street – I was at the ground in good time.
An accident had closed the M5 and the team were stuck in the tailback, they eventually arrived just before 8 – kick-off was put back to 8:30.
The lack of a full warm-up may excuse some of the early errors made: the odd dropped ball, poor kick, etc….
The first scoring opportunity went to Worcester after we were pinged at the breakdown, Andy Goode’s kick from around 5m inside the Warriors’ half fell well short.
It was to be Irish who struck first, a good break from Marland Yarde, carried on by Ofisa Treviranus, who sprinted in from about 25-30m out to score in the corner. Steven Shingler was unable to add the extras, so 5-0 to the Irish after 13 minutes.
For the next 5 minutes we dominated play and a penalty in front of the posts allowed Steven Shingler to extend our lead to 8-0 on 18 minutes – however, that was a good as it got. From the kick-off we failed to take the ball cleanly giving Worcester a scrum, we are then pinged at the scrum giving Worcester a penalty. Rather than going the three, Andy Goode goes for touch, so a Worcester line-out deep in our 22. We manage to keep out the first couple of drives, but eventually a try is scored by Aleki Lutui and Goode adds the extras. Our lead is now just 8-7 just after the 20 minute mark.
Worcester are now having the better of things, with most of the play being in our half. After 30 minutes Losi is yellow carded for a tip tackle and Goode converts the penalty – Worcester now lead 10-8.
Worcester fail to put us under serious pressure despite having the man advantage. A line-out infringement just inside the Worcester half gives Shingler a chance to restore our lead, but his kick falls short.
Half time – Worcester lead 10-8. A fairly even half, we had the best of the first 20 minutes and Worcester the best of the second 20.
Alex Gray is a half time replacement for Declan Danaher.
The momentum continues in Worcester’s favour through the early exchanges of the second half – about 10 minutes in Goode makes a break and chips forward but knocks on trying to collect ball, our scrum is under pressure and we fail to clear and concede a penalty while repelling a further Warriors surge towards our line. Goode extends the Worcester lead to 13-8.
A couple of minutes later a Worcester infringement allows Shingler to reduce the deficit to 13-11. Shingler has another chance a couple of minutes later, but his penalty from the half way line is off target. Another couple of minutes and it is Goode’s turn to have a penalty and Worcester’s lead is extended to 16-11.
Worcester pile on the pressure and after we concede a few penalties in quick succession, Jamie Gibson is yellow carded. The pressure continues, but we hold out, win a penalty and clear our lines. However the pressure finally tells, an overlap is created and David Lemi scores, Goode’s conversion attempt is off target, so it is 21-11 to Worcester with a little over 10 minutes to go.
Alan Cotter replaces Halani Aulika.
Jamie is out of the sin-bin.
With 7 minutes remaining, further replacements - Shane Geraghty on for Shingler, Topsy for Losi and George Skivington for Matt Garvey.
With time running short, we try to play our way out from our own 5m line but we actually go backwards and get caught behind our own posts. From the resulting scrum Semisi Taulava goes over for Worcester third try, Goode’s conversion takes the score to 28-11 with just 3 minutes remaining – just enough time for Worcester to tear through our defence one more time, with Jon Clarke scoring the bonus point try and Andy Goode converting, the final score is 35-11 to Worcester.
Although we started fairly well, once Worcester scored their first try (which was from an Irish mistake) there was only one side in it. The Warriors were worthy winners and the final score was a fair reflection of the match.
These are becoming worrying times – it’s not the fact that we have lost 4 out of 5 so far this season, but that we have been well beaten 4 times. The Bath match had given us reason to believe that our poor start was behind us, which made our performance against Worcester all the more disappointing.
With the number of changes to the coaching and playing staff since last season, it is going to take some time for things to come together – but we have now had 5 premiership games, before that 3 pre-season games and before that a few weeks of pre-season training, so they must have had going on for 3 months now – hopefully it will not take much longer for it all to gel.
During the Toby Booth era, it was often observed that the replacements seemed pre-planned, we could fairly accurately predict when replacements would be made and who would replace who. With Brian Smith, they are beginning to look like a bit of an afterthought – only 5 of our bench were used on Friday, and 3 of those came on with just 7 minutes remaining, hardly time for them to have an influence on the game.
I do like to finish my reports on a positive note – how about conceding less than 40 points for 2 matches in a row?
I should mention that the title of this report refers to the transport difficulties experienced by many on their way to Worcester. Worcester itself is a very nice place, with a very nice rugby ground, some very nice rugby supporters and a very nice Chinese take-away - and is something like 29 miles from hell.
I would like to thank 2 large mugs of hot chocolate with larger than necessary dollops of Baileys and a large bar of Galaxy chocolate for their help in writing this report.
Anyway – onwards & upwards – a week is a long time in sport, all will be different on Saturday against Northampton, so let’s all get behind the boys and cheer them on to victory.
COME ON YOU IRISH!!!!
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It would be apt.
Faugh-a-Ballagh!
"Our prayer is 'God save Ireland' and pour blessings on her name!"
Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum
Faugh-a-Ballagh!
"Our prayer is 'God save Ireland' and pour blessings on her name!"
Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum
