Quantcast

London Irish 22 - Sale Sharks 20


By BODisGOD
May 12 2014

As the players warmed up and murmur went around the stadium and all eyes turned to a big front row forward wearing bright orange boots; yes the face Irish supporters where looking for all season, the man who was Irish's top try scorer last season had returned, the prodigal son: Halani Aulika!

The Tongan was moving around with freedom and had his characteristic stern yet friendly face looked delighted to be back at the MadStad.

Sadly for Irish supporters the Tongan was not to play a part in the game however Irish supporters still got to see some tries! London Irish supporters saw tries come from Fenby x2 and Yarde, wearing the green of Irish for the final time. Irish supporters also welcomed back Tom Homer who took the 15 shirt and James O'Connor was moved to 12 because Eamonn Sheridan broke a bone in his hand, hopefully not his contract signing hand!

Now onto the actual game. If we wanted a sentence to sum it up; "Scrappy but who cares we won!" that is exactly how I feel after yesterday's game! Sale took a deep drop kick that pushed Irish back onto their own 22 metre line and 4 minutes into the game Mark Easter of Sale crossed after a Sale kept on using their powerful pack to push over the line. Sale converted and within 6 minutes Irish were 7-0 down, not the greatest start. However, Sale's lead didn't last long as James O'Connor drifted out wide on 7 minutes before popping the ball up to Andrew Fenby who evaded the final two defenders and darted over. James O'Connor converted although many Irish supporters called for Tom Homer to kick. London Irish 7-7 Sale. James O'Connor missed a penalty amide more calls for Hawk-Eye to step up. Minutes later Tom Arscott crossed after Fenby made a last ditch tackle but the player was able to offload. Sale converted. Sale were then awarded a penalty which was duly converted. Mr O'Connor then grabbed 3 more points just before half time and Irish went in trialling 17-10.

The second half started poorly again for Irish but this time it was in the form of a penalty. Sale now had all their points that they were going to get and the fighting Irish started to fight back! Another great bit of running by James O'Connor in the middle of the field left Yarde with space to run into and with his pace nobody could stop him. James O'Connor kicked the conversion. London Irish 17-20 Sale. After Irish broke from their 22 metre line Yarde, who kicked ahead, was blocked Sale cleared but O'Connor again got the ball and ran into space before giving it to Fenby who cut in from his wing and like Moses parting the sea Fenby beat three defenders and ran over to score! James O'Connor failed to convert amide even more shouts for Tommy to kick. London Irish 22-20 Sale. London Irish hung on for 15 minutes and earned 2 more penalties both O'Connor missed but Irish still managed to win!

People have complained that the rugby wasn't the greatest quality but for me I'd rather win than loose and play well. London Irish showed fight to come back and stun the Sharks and in the final 15 could have had 6 more points or even more but the cherry on the cake never came. But oh well congratulations to the players and the coaches we won, maybe we didn't play well but we WON!



Craic Members' Photo Archives


Big-Al
Cormac

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

London Irish 22 - Sale Sharks 20
Discussion started by The Craic www.londonirish.org , 12/05/2014 02:49
The Craic www.londonirish.org
12/05/2014 02:49
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net