By thepedro
December 12 2012

London Irish’s slide continued on Saturday, and their chances of qualifying from their Amlin group severely dented, as they threw away a 13 point lead against Gloucester at home.

The management had stuck true to their word in fielding their strongest available 15 and it looked like it might pay off for nearly an hour, against a more experimental Gloucester line-up. Irish got off to the perfect start with a try by Losi in just two minutes. Despite being picked at inside centre, Losi managed to find himself in his more familiar position on the wing and showed his class with a trademark finish, leaving defenders in his wake with his mix of pace and power. Humphreys put over the conversion and Irish were 7-0. Even more trademark than Losi’s finishes this season, however, is the team’s habit of giving points straight back to the opposition after a score, and this was once again the case as Freddie Burns was able to immediately reduce the arrears by three with a straightforward penalty. After these early exchanges Gloucester seemed to settle quicker, with some incisive attacking phase play coupled with missed Irish tackles eventually leading to a scrum, with Max penalised in range for Burns (starting the game at inside centre), although he missed a difficult but kickable penalty to goal. Irish soon hit back though, some rare quick ball leading to a visit into the Gloucester 22 and a penalty for offside. Darren took a quick tap and go and darted for the corner, only to be bundled into touch and possession lost. Whilst the ambition could be commended, for this reporter is was just another demonstration of our lack of game management this season, and ultimately three vital points thrown away. A much improved area that will have lowered a few blood pressures was Irish finally chasing their kicks – JJ and Anthony should be singled out for praise – and whilst there were a few Irish knock-ons in the process it prevented clean ball and put some pressure on the Gloucester response. Gloucester continued to press although the defence looked much steadier from Irish, with Dec being rewarded with some work on his nose during a defensive stand. Kieran Low came on for a quick blood replacement whilst Dec was cleaned up, and he was back in a couple of minutes.

Whilst the defence was improved, the play with ball in hand was still lacking any direction and penetration. Having gone sideways for a number of phases, with most players in the back line simply standing and watching the confusion, it took a great individual break by Ian Humphreys to make and impact, and with Gloucester reeling only a poor pass from Ofisa prevented Losi going over for an easy score in the corner. From a resulting penalty, the decision was made to go the for the corner rather than the post, and when possession was lost it appeared another three points had been spurned. Humphreys put over a penalty soon after, whilst also missing one from right on the touchline, putting Irish 10-3 up. The end of the half characterised most by some very exotic knock-on interpretations from Sir, and more directionless Irish attacking. One particularly confused phase, from within our own 22, lead to a knock-on, with Gloucester winning a penalty at the scrum and Burns making the score 10-6 shortly before half time. At half time I reflected on what had been a generally good first half. Returning internationals seemed to have made a difference, with JJ looking sharp and chasing kicks, and the line-out functioning well with Paice back in the side. Apart from a couple of missed tackles the defence had managed to contain a lively Gloucester attack. However, aside from some moments of individual brilliance, the attack hadn’t operated well, and this was accentuated by poor decisions and handling/passing errors.

When the game restarted, however, there were many reasons to be positive. Some early pressure from Gloucester lead to a penalty at the breakdown, with Burns converting to bring the score to 10-9. Irish came right back though, with Garvey claiming a great restart and the forwards rumbling down the field. From an Irish line-out inside the 22 a well-worked catch and drive brought us close to the line, and eventually natural-born-finisher Halani Aulika powered over for yet another close-range try. When will Topsy start getting worried? Humphreys sneaked the conversion inside the post for 17-9, and as Gloucester tried to come straight back, an attempted grubber inside our 22 came off an Irish leg, Trev did well to recover on the ground and pop up for Anthony, who won a 50m footrace to score. The conversion was missed, and at 22-9 both my Dad and I agreed the scoreline was now comfortable enough for Irish to conspire to lose the game. They duly delivered.

Shane Geraghty speaking after the match admitted Irish had switched off, thinking more about a try bonus than securing the game, however Gloucester’s replacements in response to the Watson try must be credited with the turnaround. Eight replacements were made soon after the score, with Ben Morgan introduced and Mike Tindall allowing Freddie Burns to move to fly-half. Irish also made a change at this point, Trev going off with looked like a potentially nasty knew injury. He was replaced by The Hoff, introduced by Caimh as “the man who took on the law and won”, and received a standing ovation that brought a smile to his face. That was the last smile that would be seen by anyone wearing green that day though, and all the good work was undone and the team unravelled in the last 25 minutes. It started with a Gloucester catch and drive, which from under a sea of bodies the referee awarded a try to Dan Murphy. The successful conversion made the dcore 22-14 and lead to a raft of replacements for Irish. These only furthered the confusion, and the defence started to crack – firstly with the rising number of breakdown infringements leading to Bryn Evans being sent to the bin, and then some pitiful tackling allow Gloucester to canter through for a try, Burns touching down and adding the extras to give Gloucester their first lead of the match, 22-23. The good had turned to bad, and it soon turned ugly. Tackles were missed all over the park, and on the rare occasion Irish got the ball, the attacking play had degenerated to the point we were no longer going sideways but backwards. The sustained pressure lead to two more Gloucester penalties, both put away by Burns to stretch the lead to 22-29. A last gasp attack by Irish almost levelled the game, although the final pass for a certain try was ruled offside, and meant Irish went away with just a bonus point, and yet another loss.

More disappointing than yet another defeat must surely be the failure to learn lessons and improve the aspect that are noticeably lacking. The complete lack of organisation in attack is preventing any momentum and therefore pressure on defences, and we cannot rely simply on individual shows of skill to break the gain line. The defence once again let us down, particularly with tackling technique, and the drop-off in performance for the last 20 minutes of games is still evident. This is further compounded by our inability to put away games, spurning kickable penalties when score-board pressure was needed. There were positives – JJ and Paicey both looked fresh from on their return, as did Aulika both in the scrums and the loose. But the problems are still the same – penalty count, missed tackles, attacking intent, and playing for eighty minutes. Brian was his usual upbeat self after the match, insisting we could go to Castle Grimm next week and get the result needed to put us back in control of the group. But if we haven’t learned these lessons so far this season, it will have to be a steep learning curve this week to give us any sort of chance.