By Big Al
January 7 2013

Off to Gloucester for the second time in under a month and the forth meeting between the sides this season – from the previous matches, this may not of been the easiest match to feel optimistic about – however the team announced on Friday, allowing for the long term injuries, looks to be just about our strongest possible, the weather was set fair and not much wind, even the possibility of a sunny period – so perfect conditions to get 2013 off to a good start – remember, before this match we were unbeaten in 2013.

On Thursday I had done my weekly predictions on Superbru website – on predicting an Irish win a little window popped up saying something along the lines of “are you sure – this is very unlikely” – I ignored this and predicted Irish by 4. On Friday I checked the Craic prediction league, here I had gone for a 5 point winning margin to the Irish. Feeling good about things on Saturday morning, I informed those that read my Facebook postings that it would be Irish by 6.
On arriving at Kingsholm we discovered that Alex Corbisiero was no longer in the team – which appears to have been discussed at length on the messageboard – I hope some of the comments made were just from frustration – Corbs is one of our top players and we could do with him in our starting line-up (and I expect Max could do with a rest). Unfortunately some players have more than their fair share of injuries – I’m sure Corbs is just as frustrated as we are that he was not available to play.
There is also the continuing discussion on Losi playing at centre, made even more bizarre by having an international centre on the wing – still what do I know.
Game time – we start with a minutes silence for former Gloucester player, captain, legend – Mike Nicholls. RIP Mike.

For the first half Irish are attacking the west end of the ground – however before we have a chance to attack, Gloucester take an early 3-0 lead through a Freddie Burns penalty. We responded with a penalty after 11 minutes to make it 3-3 – Steven Shingler is on kicking duty and he had a chance to give us the lead halfway through the half, but his effort hit the upright.
We continue to attack and George Skivington collects the ball a few metres out and he manages to stretch for the line despite the close attention of a few Gloucester players.

Steven misses the conversion attempt - so with 23 minutes on the clock we lead 8-3.
Burns has a chance to reduce Gloucester arrears on 30 minutes, but his penalty is off target, however a few minutes later we are pinged again and a bit of back-chat advances Gloucester a further 10m forward and this time Burns is on target and our lead is just 8-6.
With half time approaching we keep possession in midfield for a while, Patt Phibbs puts through a kick from half way and chases, the Gloucester defender looks to have plenty of time, but fumbles, Phibbs gets him on the 5m line, wins the ball, passes to George, another try. Steven gets the conversion, Irish lead 15-6. Sorry but I didn’t get a photo of the second try, but I did get a very out of focus picture of an arm in front of me up in the air to celebrate it.
Scott Lawson replaces David Paice.
The only worries at half time are an injury to David Paice in the build-up to the second try, it didn’t look good from my angle as he went down, so here’s hoping it is not as bad as it looked – also there have been a couple of missed kicks for the posts (one penalty, one conversion) from not the most difficult of angles – 15-6 is not a winning lead, so hopefully the missed points won’t come back to haunt us – and another also, early on scrums seemed even, but as the half progressed Gloucester were dominating them, certainly in terms of penalties at scrum time.
So on to the second half – the early exchanges are fairly even, both sides have possession, going through phases, or kicking for position but neither troubling the other. Items of note during this period of play are that Scott Lawson receives treatment a couple of times and Chris Hala'ufia slicing a clearance for our 22.
The first scoring opportunity goes to Gloucester but Burns is off target with a penalty from a difficult angle.
Ian Humphreys is replaced by Shane Geraghty – Ian looked rather dazed as he went off – Gloucester also make a few changes and Lawson receives more treatment.
Shane’s early play is a cause for concern – a missed tackle and a not getting close enough to tackle, but after this he gets up to speed.
Gloucester win a penalty close in and fairly central but opt for the scrum – they win another penalty from the scrum and then take the 3 – so after 58 minutes Irish lead by 15-9. Just a few minutes later Burns further reduces our lead with another penalty – 15-12, with a little under 20 minutes to go.
A couple of minutes later we have a penalty, but Steven’s effort from distance and close to touch is off target. There are around 16 minutes to go, Irish still leading by 3 points.
Halani Aulika receives treatment but is OK to carry on – however a couple of minutes later he is replaced by Leo Halavatau.
An Irish scrum, reset a couple of times and then a penalty to Irish. Tom Homer takes over kicking duties and makes no mistake – Irish lead 18-12 and we are inside the final 10 minutes.
KEEP IT GOING IRISH.

Jack Moates is on for Pat Phibbs and Jamie Gibson replaces Matt Garvey.
Gloucester have a lineout deep in our half, but we manage to stop the maul and we are awarded a scrum – then a penalty at the scrum – a bit of chat from Gloucester gives us an extra 10m – and the ball is cleared to halfway.
With play on half way, there looks to be a bit of a tip tackle from one of the Gloucester players and everyone piles in – well it wouldn’t be a London Irish / Gloucester match without a bit of handbags would it? Gloucester’s Will James is yellow-carded – penalty Irish and play is now deep in the Gloucester half and just a couple of minutes remaining.
There is still time for Gloucester to have one last assault on our line but a combination of Tom Homer and Jack Moates keeps them at bay. Gloucester knock-on, but there is no time for the scrum.
IRISH win 18-12.

One win doesn’t make a season, but hopefully this one will kick-start ours – for once we played for the full 80 minutes, we played with grit and determination and we played as a team. There were still a few missed tackles and a few aimless kicks, but not as many as in some recent matches and overall our good play outweighed the mistakes (good over evil?).
Our colourful band of intrepid travellers turn up week in/week out, come rain or shine, wherever it is that London Irish may be playing, and despite everything this season has failed to bring us so far, we always cheer the team on right to the end of the match and always maintain our good spirits. Many may wonder why we do it – the reason we do it is quite simple, once in a while this happens and when it does there is no better place to experience it than being there with your fellow supporters.
Happy New Year – and we are still unbeaten in 2013.
Come on you IRISH !!!!!