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Kick to Win!


By BODisGOD
January 13 2015

London Irish stunned a faltering Exeter Chiefs side 28-26 at the Madjeski Stadium on Sunday. The game was a tight affair with both sides trading tries and penalties. London Irish claimed a try bonus point and the winning points but Exeter left with just a point meaning they slipped further down the table.

It hasn't been exciting times at the MadStad recently and the start of the match showed it with a knock on straight from the kick off, really not the start needed. To be kind the MadStad's lively atmosphere had weined and was quite a disappointment. It's easy to see why the atmosphere was poor, the current form of the Irish side has been below par.A bad start and a crowd with still very little to cheer about, on and off the field. However, once the game came to life the crowd came to life. Some say that the game at Gloucester on Friday night was a true spectacle. I say yes it was brilliant, blah, blah but once the game had finished I felt that the Irish Chiefs match was a better affair. My reasoning is the fact that Gloucester have plenty, plenty of top players (not as many as Sarries) so really should be giving Saracens players a run for their money and if Saracens are that cocky again they'll e caught out again. 
Now, why was the Irish Chiefs game great? To simply put it, Irish broke a curse. Irish had failed to beat the Chiefs since 2011 and although Exeter weren't in great form they are a top top side with more than their fair share of young internationals and experienced Premiership players. And Irish were better. How often can you say that? A side ranked 11th in the table can beat a side that has dined at the Hieneken Cup table in recent years ( more recently than Irish) and that sums up the true joy of rugby its unpredictability. 
Some may disagree with my comparison of the Friday night game and the Sunday afternoon affair. But I bet you ANY money that BT are ruing the decision to be live at Kingston Park! Wow, we saw Welsh get smashed, again. Who cares BT, who cares? BT could have broadcast a terrific end to end game of thrilling rugby but decided that a one sided affair would be better typical of an organisation lacking any clue about where to find good rugby.
Who doesn't love a late drop goal to win the match? I'm sure England supporters will tell you of the joy they experienced when Johnny popped it over. Now tell me what's a more memorable ending to a game, a drop goal or a penalty? Everybody remembers Johnny's drop goal from over a decade ago but who can name the number 10 that kicked the penalty which meant that New Zealand would win the World Cup in 2011? Exactly, drop goal wins are far more impressive, listen up Mr Hook. 
Somebody said to me after the Exeter game that it felt as though for the first time this season Irish had actually played! Quite right really! It was a good start (to the season) but all good things have to come to an end and the good vein or form dried up. However, the Challenge Cup always seemed to have a constant flow of form running through it, let's hope it continues. I feel that there should be some comparison to the Cardiff game at the MadStad when we came away deserved winners, on that day it was a tight cagey affair like the one on Sunday but we came up with the goods as we did against the Chiefs. The game almost reminded me of the Sarries game at home, we were robbed late on and in fairness I thought that it was going to happen again but credit to Shane he delivered the goods when we needed him most.
It's not often that Irish claim the try bonus and winning points however yesterday after such a great performance it was truly deserved. It's now 2 Aviva Premiership home wins in a row first time in quite some time and 3 consecutive wins in all competitions. Considering we hadn't won at home until Boxing Day, when we barely beat Welsh, it was a terrific encounter which showed that on our day our boys can go up against one of top England's feeder sides and match them tit for tat in all areas of the field.

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Kick to Win!
Discussion started by The Craic www.londonirish.org , 13/01/2015 09:59
The Craic www.londonirish.org
13/01/2015 09:59
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Finno
13/01/2015 11:14
Excellent review..

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