London Irish
Valentine comes late with Rose and Cards for Irish
By JoeV
February 18 2013
There’s only one Peter Stringer! On a sunny day at the Rec, ideal for warming old bones, Stringer put on a display of scrum half play that was a joy to behold. Always sharp he drove his impressive pack forward and stole the show from David Rose leaving Irish beaten 40-16 with much to think about.
We had travelled with some confidence following last weeks’ defeat of Saracens. Although it was always difficult to escape the fact that Saracens were rather decimated by International call-ups. But you can only beat what is put in front of you and we won rather well. So the fact that Bath were welcoming back two international props in the form of David Wilson (Eng) and Paul James (Wales) and were featuring the half back pairing of Stringer and Stephen ‘ World Cup Winning’ Donald made no dents in our confidence that we could visit our old friends in the West Country and come back with the points.
Variously our party predicted a six point win (myself and Liam agreeing on a 22-16 score) whilst Giles had the feeling it would be a draw. Steve announced himself as not really qualified to hold an opinion but was looking forward to the day. A pleasant enough train journey saw us arrive in Bath at mid-day, one Guinness to the good and the unusual bright sunshine bringing on a thirst that needed dealing with. So to the Royal Hotel Bar, usefully outside the station and on the way to the ground. A few pints of Doom Bar and Stella saw the day begin to warm up. Liam utilised his super hero power of Unfeasibly Large Elbows to decorate the bar staff with his ‘I’m not drinking today’ pint of shandy. Other than that things passed off without incident.
We then continued our ‘it’s only a short walk to the ground from the station’ journey. Traversing some sort of spiral staircase maintenance hatch down to the river. Strolling along the river where burgers were being served in the sunshine and eventually arriving at the gate to the ground. The wrong gate naturally enough. The steward was very friendly and tried to let us in, but his bar code reader said ‘No!’ Whilst it may be only a short walk to the ground from the station it’s actually quite a long and complicated walk from the ground to the ground. However, after gathering ourselves over a sharp glass of Peroni in the Riverside Café we made it to the Rec, correct gate. A place where cider could be bought in giant 2 pint glasses, so we did.
Taking our seats, surrounded by Bath Banter and a good smattering of Irish supporters, we sat back in the sun and tried to figure out what was going on through the unusual February glare. What we saw was not encouraging, Bath hit hard and looked like they were setting up camp in our half. Attwood stole an early line out for the home team and the drive that followed made good ground. Donald had a shot at goal but put it wide from far out. But the penalties kept on coming and it looked like we were in for a long afternoon. But rugby is about taking your chances. One bad throw to the Bath lineout and we were suddenly up the other end and Tom Homer was doing what he does and putting us three points up. Three minutes later we were leading 6-0 with another Homer penalty and the sun was shining brightly on the Fields of Athenry as the 2 Pint Chorus belted it out.
The following phases then set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Topsy went high on Tom Biggs, the Bath wing, and the penalty was knocked over by Donald. A number of penalty awards, that seemed kickable, were spurned by Bath . Whether that was because Donald was hurt was not clear, but he was replaced soon after by Tom Heathcote. A sweeping move by Bath then left Biggs with a run to the corner. Topsy appeared at pace and hit the winger hard and according to Mr Rose high. It was a valiant attempt and fully committed tackle. But the result was a penalty try to Bath and a yellow card to Topsy. The strains of Athenry were now replaced by the newly crafted song ‘We Love you Rosie’, to the tune of I love you Baby if you want to try it, belted out by the 2 Pint Chorus who had discovered irony in the bottom of their cider glasses.
Five minutes later and Bath had worked another position, this time Abendanon crossing the line with Marland vainly hanging on. Tom Homer kicked another penalty and we went in 17-9 down at half time.
The second half started badly and got no better. The Bath pack owned the Irish eight pretty much all afternoon. This is a worrying trend and needs sorting out, our scrummage is just not strong enough and if you cannot guarantee your own ball you will struggle. The back row had a mess to sort out at most of the scrums. From one such calamaity we conceded another penalty that Heathcote converted. With such pressure comes mistakes. Tom Homer picked up a yellow card for a cynical handling on the floor and Heathcote eased Bath virtually out of sight.
This Irish side has one thing on it’s side, fantastic talent and so it was that Ian Humphreys dummied his way out of the Irish 22, he found Jack Moates in support and the ball was slipped to Marland Yarde who ran 60 metres to the Bath 22. Humphreys was again on hand to take the ball and slip it to Moates who dived over in the corner. Truly a Gareth Edwards Barbarians moment. Great try and with Humphreys converting all to play for.
The End.
Or so it seemed. Time for John Fisher to find his way to the sin bin as Rose continued to deal out cards like a crazed adolescent on Valentines Day. Heathcote kicked another three and then Bath, driven forwards by the inspirational Stringer, scored a try through Nathan Catt to take the game away once and for all. Heathcote converted to make it 33-16. But Bath were not finished yet and closed the day off with a try from Anthony Perenise, the conversion made it 40-16 and we headed off to have a chat with the team after the game.
Under the stands there was not much love for Mr Rose. The huge difference in the penalty count, with the Irish score sitting anywhere between 18 and 23 compared to Bath’s 5, was a talking point . Naturally these are words that cannot be spoken in public by the squad but there was an over-riding feeling of massive injustice to put it politely.
We spoke with Pat Phibbs after the game and he was still very positive about how things are progressing. All of the players were naturally disappointed but under it all there is a strong determination to keep working and come out of the other side of this much stronger. The team were very appreciative of the support from travelling fans.
I have had mixed experiences on many trips to Bath, it has not been one of my top ten places to visit I must admit. But on Saturday it was great. We met many differing groups of Bath supporters, old and young. Sat with people who had great banter and made the day by being so friendly and welcoming. Obviously a good side and a sunny day suits the Bath crowd well.
Our day mirrored the game, starting strongly and confident we variously rolled back into Reading and on to home lighter by one coat, one hat, one hip flask and two of our four strong team. A shambolic ending to a great day.
As for Irish it’s back to the grindstone on Monday to get ready for Wasps and Northampton where we surely must come back with at least five points to be in the fight. As someone once said,
‘London Irish is a state of mind. Believe!!’
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I preferred not to make any constructive criticism of the Rec, it is what it is and did the job on Saturday.
Also, the last time I did that was some years ago and I inadvertently posted under my then girlfriend's (now wife) sign on, not realising she had remained logged in. Her message, from the id 'Dave' was met with the polite response 'go boil yer 'ead 'Dave'' which still causes amusement in our house to this day .....
