A Raspberry for Mr. Goodliffe

Occasionally an individual so dominates, a sporting event, that he receives widespread plaudits, and invariably is named “Man of the match”, or “ most valuable player”, or some other such accolade.  Today at the madstad, we saw one individual have such an influence on the game.  Unfortunately it was Mr. Goodliffe, and frankly, all he deserves for his performance is a resounding raspberry.

The only mercy that Mr. Goodliffe showed to the players from both sides, and the 5,831 spectators was that, he did not actually influence the result, but the influence that he had on everybody's enjoyment and entertainment was profound, and it seemed that perhaps he was not the referee at all, but a late entry into the world whistle blowing marathon. Which incidentally he would have been disqualified from, for a false start.

But I digress…

What of the game that everyone else saw??  Actually, it wasn’t bad!!

However, when the whistle went (for the first time of many) they had a bit of a shock coming.  Irish kicked of, and the Roth fullback sliced the clearance to give Irish a lineout just outside the 22, Irish won the ball and spun along the line, where the big Murph appeared at speed between the two centers, it took the usual three to stop him, and this set Irish up into a series of 3 quick rucks.  Roth gave away a penalty, which Tofty cleverly cross kicked, quickly to the left where the excellent Nils Mordt gathered and  darted for the line.  He was stopped just short but the ball was quickly recycled to Bish for the try.  Tofty converted

3 Minutes  Irish 7 – Roth 0

Then the incessant whistling started, Irish won the ball from the restart but were pinged by Mr. Goodliffe for (seemingly) passing the ball.  Roth made a hash of the clearance, and Irish attacked left, Tofty kicked long, and the Roth Fullback was caught in goal.  5 Meter scrum to Irish.  Sheas picked up, passed to Strudders who made 5 yards before being caught.  The ball was recycled quickly via Darren to Tofty, who swung the right leg.  Drop goal.

5 Mins  Irish 10 Roth 0

Hey this is easy.  Err. The Roth player have some other ideas .  From the restart Irish cough the ball up, and Roth attack for the 1^st time in the Irish half.  Three darts by forwards, recycled ball, and Roth have a 4 on 4 going left.  John Benson decided he didn’t need it and shimmied past Mike Horak, for a very well crafted, (but poorly defended) try.  Jason Strange converted.

7 Mins.  Irish 10   Roth 7.

If this all sounds a bit frenetic, that is because it was.  From the restart, Tofty did one of those big, high, up in the air kicks, and Geoff chased and tapped it back, so Irish kept possession.  Irish now set up a very good set of two or three phases, First Strudders, then Murph make good ground and suck in defenders, as Irish keep the ball for about 2 minutes.  The ball comes from a quick ruck, and Darren breaks right, sells a dummy, steps inside another, and draws the cover, before passing to Sacks with one defender to beat.  “Good night nurse”  Try to Sacks.  Tofty converts

10 Mins   Irish 17  Roth 7

From the kick of Mr. Goodliffe gave a penalty to Roth on about half way, they kicked to the right corner and gathered the lineout, attacked strongly first with a catch and drive, then through the hands, and set up a series of rucks in the Irish 22. Irish were caught offside but Roth spun the ball along the backs line, and the ref for once played advantage.  Only for Nils Mordt to demolish the inside center with a destructive tackle, and force Roth to take the original penalty.  Jason Strange obliged.

14 Mins  Irish 17  Roth 10

Roth gathered the restart but coughed the ball up.  Irish at this stage were really playing their recycling game perfectly, and set up a great position on the left.  Roth went offside at the ruck (allegedly).  Irish took a quick tap and Mike Horak crashed over for the try.  Tofty added the extras

18 mins.  Irish 24  Roth 10

What happened next was pure farce.  From a breakdown on the halfway Roth win

the ball and Kick a garryowen, Kieran Roach leaps to try and charge the kick, and everyone's eyes , including Ref and Touch judge follow the ball, which only advances about 10 meters, but the kicker is lying prostrate holding his head.  Mr. Goodliffe had not a clue what happened, he asked the TJ who had also been following the ball.  Between the two of them they decided that Roach had apparently obstructed the kicker, and inexplicably yellow carded him, and awarded a penalty where the ball landed.  Strange once again obliged.

22 Mins.  Irish 24  Roth 13

Roth now sensed their chance, and made the most of it. With Kieran of the field, the Irish pack were under pressure, Roth attacked strongly with a well taken lineout catch And drive, spread the ball wide then attacked down the 10 channel, set up a ruck, beefy went in from the side, Penalty Roth, Strange scores on 25 Mins. Irish then make a complete nonsense of the restart and the ball does not go 10 Meters, so Roth get a scrum on halfway which Irish disrupt well, but then immediately cough up the ball.  Roth are now in full flight and set up a series of attacks down the right towards “Sackey corner”.  Irish scamper across and force a turnover deep in the corner just outside the Irish try line.  The ball comes to Mike Horak who inexplicably, throws a wild pass to Tofty,  The pass goes to ground inside the Irish “in goal” area and Tofty dives on it.  The ball squirts out, and Anthony Elliot gratefully accepts the gift, to dive on the ball and score the try.  Strange continues his error free afternoon.

28 Mins, and Roth have clawed back from 24 – 10, to 24 – 23, in the period that Kieran Roach was missing. The rest of the half  is a catalogue of errors from both sides, with the only notable event being a badly missed penalty from right in front by Tofty.

The first half ends 24 – 23 to Irish.  Blimey says a bloke near me What the hell was that all about.

One imagines that both sides received a roasting at half time for their poor defense, and a little praise for their attacking flair, as well as a huge pat on the back for no one strangling the Whistle blower.

The start of the 2^nd half saw  quite the most bizarre  decision by the yellow peril.  At 2 mins a scrum on the Irish 10M line, and there is a clear punch from the Roth prop as the scrum goes down.  No call. The scrum is reset, and Irish push Roth of the ball. But Mr. Goodliff pings Irish for pushing at a scrum, and Jason Strange puts Roth ahead for the first and last time in the game

2 mins  Irish 24  Roth 26.

Darren had to go to the blood bin, and Kevin Barret replaced him.  Kevin immediately showed some good touches, and Irish camped on the Roth 22.  Very frenetic attacking from Irish causes a lot of panic in the Roth defense.  Murph carries the ball about 10M then goes down and Mr. Goodliffe pings him for holding on before he even hits the ground.  Roth make a hash of the clearance, and Irish come right back at them, The ref plays advantage to Irish ( By now I have given up trying to understand the calls, but I think he said Roth were offside.  Very questionable).  Tofty use the free ball for a drop at goal, misses, and it is brought back for the penalty, Tofty scores.

9 Mins.  Irish 27  Roth 26

Darren returns to the field and leads the Irish raid into the Roth 22, yet another penalty, yet another score.

10 Mins  Irish 30 Roth 26

From here on in, it is all Irish,  They take an iron grip on the 1^st phase, and push Roth off at least 2 scrums, they dominate possession and field position.  The pack are to the fore, especially Murph, Strudders and O’Sheas.  The leaky defense of the first half is now consigned to History, and everything starts to work smoothly, where before it was creaking.

At 13 Mins, Barry comes on for the injured Tofty, then at 20 Mins Murph, Nils, and La La, are replaced by Hoads, Dec, and Dougy Wheatly.  Roth also make a number of changes, but it seems as though the Irish subs make an impact, whilst the Roth Subs actually make them weaker.  So Irish tighten their grip on the game as Barry adds his first Penalty.

25 Mins  Irish 33  Roth 26.

Irish remain on the attack and start to play some nice Rugby, dominating possession.  Roth also look dangerous when they have the ball, but they can now find no way through the dour Irish defense.  The Next Irish attack brings a freak score.  From a ruck the ball is transferred quickly to Barry who goes for the drop goal.  It is charged down, but Barry catches the ricochet, and makes a dart for the gap caused by the charger.  The gap gets bigger, and Barry scampers the 20 Meters to the line, then converts his own try.  And the BP for Irish.

29 Mins  Irish 40  Roth 24

Roth are not finished yet and make a series of attacks into Irish territory.  From one of these, Mike Horak finds himself Isolated, with the ball on his own 22, and 3 Roth players bearing down on him.  Inexplicably he chooses to throw a 20 meter pass to Appleford in front of his own posts, and with two roth players almost on him.  Geoff must have been good in a previous life, because somehow he got away with it and Irish cleared.

The final Try came from a kick through from Barry.  Kevin Barret, who had now replaced Darren, chased hard and forced a very poor clearance straight to Bish.  Irish spun the ball from left to right, Hoads made a good break and drew the defense to put Horak in at the corner.  Barry converted at 81 Mins, and it ended

Irish 47  Roth 26.

So overall, it was a very eventful and high scoring game.  Rotherham put in a very spirited performance, and on this showing, are not the worst team I have seen so far this year.  However, there are some glaring problems which they have to correct.  The pack is lightweight, and got shoved about a lot, especially later in the game.  Jacob Rauluni had a very good game at scrum half, but outside him there looked to be little real cutting edge.  Most of all though, the whole team need to step up a level with their defense.

For Irish, I thought that Murph, O’Sheas, and Strudders were outstanding.  I also agree with Gary Golds man of the match being awarded to Darren.  He had a very good all round game, and the try he made for Sackey was nothing short of brilliant.

There will doubtless be a group @rse kicking for the awful first half defense, but general plaudits for the way the team completely changed and made the second half secure, and at the end of the day we got the five points, and move to fifth in the table. (In front of the queens).

WE make everyone welcome here at Irish.  But I think I will make an exception for Robin Goodliffe

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