Stung? Ouch!

The match preparation did not start well-an early start for the drive down from Oxford, a very long wait in the car-park queue, only to find it was full when I got to the front (couldn’t someone have told all of us queuing a little earlier?)- a further drive (almost back to Oxford!) followed by a trek back to the ground. It was my first trip to Adams Park and I was pleasantly surprised by the playing arena and stands-it was good to be at a ground with the crowd on all four sides of the pitch. The catering, watering and stewarding was, however………disappointing and I missed my pints of DRAUGHT Guinness. A decent sized and vociferous LI contingent with drums, boas, wigs etc were in good voice as Barry kicked off. An early big hit on the Doc by birthday boy Trevor Leota was typical of the physical and abrasive play that is the trademark of the Polynesian until he was substituted (if I was a Wasps supporter though I would be concerned about his line-out throwing in which was poor).

In the world of modern rugby with tight drift defences ‘angles of running’ are key to breaking the gain line and the Wasp’s midfield had obviously taken this lesson to heart as they ominously broke through our defence with their first attack with a simple scissor move in the centres. Fortunately this breach did not come to anything thanks to some scrambling defence from the back-row. In the 4th minute Leota actually found one of his jumpers in a line out on our 22. From the catch the driving maul was going nowhere and so Wasps released the ball to the backs who spilled it in midfield after a typical abrasive tackle by the Doc. Brendan scooped the ball up and it was pinged through the hands to the left wing where Orac made good ground before kicking the ball into the 22 where Wasps did well to regroup and clear their lines.

Soon after, Barry gave us a taste of what was to come as he missed a penalty kick at goal from in front of the posts (admittedly 40 metres out). Just over 5 minutes later Wasps opened the scoring as Josh Lewsey touched down under the posts. There didn’t appear to be much danger as Wasps had a scrum just inside our half, the scrum wheeled left allowing Dallaglio to ‘peel’ off the scrum, offload to Lewsey who cantered in for the score. Where was our defence? Good question.

This was one occasion where the importance of the ‘angle of running’ was clear– it seemed to me that the ref ran a beautiful line himself that directly interfered with Declan’s line of sight of the oncoming ‘Italian Stallion.’ This was a recurring theme as I felt he also played a similar part in Fraser Waters try (hindering Orac on that occasion) and was also caught standing between the scrum-half and out half on more than one occasion (for both teams) as the scrum half tried to release the ball. King converted the try to leave the score, deservedly, 7-0 to the Wasps.

A scrappy period of play followed during which it became clear that the Irish tight five were struggling in the set piece. Both teams’ line-outs were also less than efficient though Irish probably just shaded this area in the first half. Just before the end of the second quarter Barry briefly discovered his kicking form with a well-struck penalty (offside from the Wasps’ backline) to reduce the arrears to 4 points. Soon after, the Irish backs returned the compliment allowing Alex King to kick the penalty into the Irish 22. From the ensuing lineout Simon Shaw took a clean catch and the Wasps’ eight slowly drove the rolling maul across the pitch towards the posts. Desperate Irish defence (collapsing the maul?) prevented a try and the Wasps’ scrumhalf knocked on as he was tackled trying to dive over the try-line. The Irish scrum held solid and Barry was able to clear the lines.

On the half-hour mark Irish had their best period of play with, for probably only one of two periods in the match, good ball retention and cycling of retention through a number of phases. An overlap was created on the left but Orac was hauled down about 10 metres from the line. A Wasps’ player drove into the ruck from the side and was penalised and whilst Matt Dawson (sorry Dallaglio) was arguing with the ref (again), Irish took a quick penalty and quickly shipped the ball to the right wing allowing O’Sackey the room to outmanoeuvre Logan to score in the corner.

From where I was sitting O’Sackey looked to have done very well to squeeze in at the corner but authorities (OK, Oxonrob)closer to the action felt that an in-form Sackey would have strolled over, scoring under the posts with time to pose for the photographers. Barry’s conversion attempt from the touchline drifted just to the right of the upright leaving Irish with a narrow lead (7-8).

The lead was not to last long, Logan missed a long-range penalty attempt and Barry unfortunately sliced the resulting 22 drop-out straight into touch. Before the resulting scrum had a chance to set Mr Honiss awarded Wasps another penalty at the set piece that Alex King easily converted. In injury time the Wasps’ backs attacked from deep and created a 4 on 2 overlap on the right that allowed the full back Mark van Gisbergen to race in and score a try, converted again by King. A real body blow- leaving the half-time score 17 to 8.

A scrum at the bar and a can (!) of Guinness later and the second half had begun. Irish started well and forced an early penalty in front of the posts. Barry obviously miscued his kick and like a golfing snap-hook it hardly left the ground and missed badly to the left. Soon after, Irish were awarded a further penalty which was kicked into touch in the wasps 22. Bob Casey took the line out and the ball was swiftly passed to the backs and the Doc on a crash-ball was hauled down 5 yards short of the posts. Irish had an overlap on the right and surely would score. Not a chance, from the Woodlands stand we had an opportunity to watch Craig Dowd use all of his experience as he snaked out a right arm and scooped the ball back from the Irish side of the ruck. He was penalised and Barry kicked the penalty. ‘What do you need to do to get sin-binned?’ I heard a bewigged shout and I have to agree it was cynical but effective ploy, probably saving Wasps 4 points. I don’t doubt that Irish would have done the same but if they had and the culprit been sin-binned we could have had no complaints. It was at this point that I think both teams realised that the ref had left his cards in the changing room and that virtually anything would be allowed to go on the pitch. Not long after we heard the first call of ‘the referee’s a Lander.’ 17-11 to the Buckinghamshire Bugs.

This narrow escape appeared to wake the Wasps from their slumber and they attacked first right and then left, leaving Sackey facing a 3 on 1 overlap. He rightly went for the intercept and was penalised for a deliberate knock on though from where I was sitting (only a 100 metres away and at an obtuse angle and through my green-tinted lenses it clearly went backwards). The penalty was advanced 10 metres as Sackey tried to explain simple geometry to Mr Honiss and King increased the margin to 20-11. Not long after, Irish were awarded another penalty for coming into the ruck from the side and Tofty, this time, had a long-range shot at goal that narrowly missed.

To this point Irish had played fairly poorly-the front five had struggled in the tight, the line-out was not its usual crisp self (though we marginally shaded this set play) and the backs, handling, ball retention, penetration and angles of running left a lot to be desired. Despite this we were still in the game. What was to follow over the final 20 minutes left the wigged wonders shaking their heads in disbelief. It all seemed to start to really go pear-shaped when Tofty hoofed the ball over the stand in disgust, after the touch-judge had awarded a lineout to Wasps. I don’t have an argument with the awarding of a penalty for this petulance (which was kicked, stretching the lead to 23-11) but we do need consistency from the referee who had earlier ignored Leota hoofing the ball over his own posts after Irish had been awarded a penalty. As far as I could see there was no difference between the two incidents.

A five minute spell saw Wasps score two tries to secure the valuable bonus point. Irish failed to clear their lines and turned over the ball (again) when playing catch up rugby by running from their own 22, Fraser Waters angled his run perfectly to wrong-foot the Irish defence and whilst Sackey showed his pace in catching Waters from behind their momentum took Waters over the line under the posts for a converted try (30-11). Wasps sensed the BP was there for the taking and threw everything at Irish, a crisp move gave (?) Josh Lewsey a lot of room on the right wing to show his pace. However in a great display of speed and technique Orac caught the flying winger and bundled him into touch. Irish were penalised from the lineout and King kicked to the corner-the resulting maul from the lineout was held up over the line. Another maul then ruck followed the scrum and from this Craig Dowd dived over unopposed in the corner. I doubt Orac (who should have been defending that corner) would have been able to stop Dowd but it didn’t help that Phil Greening was man-handling him five yards over the try-line. I could see this from fully 100 yards (and it was later confirmed to me by someone sitting a lot closer) but the touch-judge (2 yards away) somehow did not see it. Spec-savers? They need to sign a sponsorship deal with Moorfield Eye Hospital!! The conversion was missed and the game meandered to a tame finish a few seconds early as Mr Honiss put us out of our misery.

In summary, we were poor and Wasps deserved to win (but I don’t believe that they are a team that is 27 points better than us). I thought that the officials had a poor game (and so did the Wasps’ supporters that I spoke to) and whilst, on our performance it would not have made much difference to this result the sort of officiating that we witnessed may yet decide who will be relegated come the end of the season. It was a sobering day for Irish but ultimately it was only a game and this was brought home to me when I later heard the dreadful news that a Wasps supporter tragically died at the game and also that two of Shaun Edwards’ (on the Wasps coaching staff) relatives (? cousin and brother) had died in a car crash the day before the match-puts it all into perspective. I’m sure all Irish supporters would join me in offering their sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families.

Where do Irish go from here? It was a bad day at the office and I don’t think/hope that we can play that badly again. Nevertheless we are right in the relegation dog-fight now and the team will have to improve heaps if we are going to get out of this one. They know it, you could see it all-over their faces at the end of the match. However I am optimistic that they will bounce back (they are a much better team than Sunday’s showing-remember Northampton and Toulouse) and get us out of trouble. I thought that the support was excellent and well led by the drummers (I was told we were clearly audible all around the ground) and the team desperately needs much more of the same in the matches to come. It was my first trip to an away match and, despite the above, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience mainly because of the support and banter from the Irish supporters all around where I was sitting. I’ll be at the next away match and urge anyone reading this to make the effort-its well worth it.

What gives me hope for the rest of the season? As the team came across at the end, we knew /they knew they had been poor but we cheered them to the rafters and cries of Irish, Irish rang around the stadium. That sort of support could make all the difference come D-day. The gentle folk of Buckinghamshire must think we’re all crazy -you don’t have to be mad to support Irish - but it helps!

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