It was at that stage I realised that, whatever sort of game we were going to witness that day, conditions would dictate that it would not be a great spectacle, so it proved to be. Indeed given the atrocious conditions the performance by both sides was remarkably good. In the end the fact was that Newcastle played the conditions better than us and as such deservedly won the game. 

Much as I enjoy the whole match day experience at London Irish it has to be said that as we arrived at the stadium around 1.30 it presented a bleak picture. A small group of the usual suspects were huddled outside the shop, the Amnesty International tin shakers were drenched, the outside catering outlets appeared to have no custom and the shop was almost empty. When I went into the ticket office I also found that I was the only customer. Business taken care of comfort was quickly sought, this was found in the shape of the hotel bar.

Whilst we do complain about aspects of the Madejski, lack of clubhouse, catering, etc. it has to be said that some of the facilities it has to offer are second to none. The hotel is a point in case, the large, warm Atrium bar was both busy and particularly welcoming on such a hostile day. In the aftermath of the previous days world cup victory there were several groups still celebrating, certainly to judge by the amount of champagne that was being consumed. I later learnt that a sizable percentage of our community were nursing hangovers from the previous days celebrations, no great surprise really after such a momentous day for English rugby.

Suitably warmed, refreshed and optimistic we made our way to our seats, that was when things started to go wrong. Somehow, somewhere, the timing of the playing of The Fields was got wrong. The crowd were just starting to warm to it as it was interrupted to announce the Falcons coming onto the field. It restarted only to be stopped mid way through as Irish came out and the game started. I do not know who if anyone is to blame for this lapse but it did mean that rather than coming out to a cheering, motivated crowd the team came out to a confused one. Note to whoever is in charge of such things, next time a bit more attention to timing please.

From the off Newcasle came at us with all guns blazing. A long kick off by Newcastle fly half Dave Walder was picked up by Michael Horak who then sliced his kick and we were immediately under pressure. Whilst we cleared this first attack to the half way line the Falcons still very much had their tails up. It was only a couple of minutes later that we were pushed back and Michael, this time under pressure, carried the ball back into our goal area and conceded a 5m scrum. From this scrum Newcastle spun the ball quickly out to the right. The ball found it's way into the hands of Jamie Noon who, with a huge gap in front of him, ran it under the posts. I have to say this is one of the softest tries I have seen us concede, our defence was nowhere. Walder duly converted, five minutes into the game 0 - 7 to Newcastle.

Barry restarted with a short kick. From this we were able to recover the ball but for some time did not initially make much of an impact on the Newcastle defence. After a few minutes of graft in the middle of the park Spud Murphy went on one of several great runs he had during the game. He appeared to be through only to spill the ball ten metres from their line. Newcastle quickly countered and it appeared that their winger Tom May was going to score a spectacular length of ground try only for him to slip quite spectacularly as he only had one defender to get round. The mark he left on the pitch was some ten meters long and was clearly visible for the rest of the game. With the ball as slippery as the proverbial bar of soap there was to be no shortage of handling errors by either side.

One feature of Newcastle's play that particularly impressed me was their ability to set up and sustain driving mauls. It was from one of these that their next score came, fourteen minutes into the game. The drive started just inside their own half and they had made about twenty meters before we were pinged for offside. Walder made no mistake with the penalty, we were 0 - 10 down with a quarter of an hour gone.

At last we started to come into the game. We managed to get lots of possession and were recycling the ball well. That said the Newcastle defence held firm, indeed with the odd exception it did so all afternoon, it was an impressive performance. On one of these attacks Spud was flattened as he laid the ball out to Bish. Some in the crowd felt it was a late tackle, as I was following the ball I didn't see the hit. What it did do was lay him out for some five minutes. Whilst he got up and soldiered on it was clear that the wind had been taken from his sails. He was replaced fifteen minutes later by Fred Gustard.

My notes show that as we went into the second quarter of the game we again came under intense pressure. Newcastle missed one drop goal attempt and had another charged down. In some ways we were our own worst enemies in this respect. Another good driving maul and kick through by Newcastle found them five meters from our line. Right throughout the afternoon our own lineout looked very solid, however in this instance rather than secure the ball we threw it long and knocked it forward. Fortunately our defence held in this period, we didn't concede any more points.

As the half drew to an end we managed to pile on some pressure. On thirty four minutes Newcastle conceded a penalty 45 meters out just to the left of the post. Barry duly converted this, 3 - 10. A few minutes later we were awarded another penalty easily within kicking range. This was taken quickly, a mistake I feel given the score and conditions, and duly spilt forward. Perhaps fortunately for us the Falcons failed to clear their lines and we were soon awarded another penalty after Hoads was flattened. Again there were those who complained about a late tackle, again I didn't see it. From close to touch on the 22m line Barry duly slotted the penalty over, 6 - 10 after 39 minutes. We survived a poor clearance from the restart, this was the score at half time.

During the interval I was discussing the first half with Mrs H. She pointed out that whereas all our restarts had been short, all those of our opponents had been long. With the conditions as poor as they were the long restart was the better option. As if to reinforce her point Newcastle started the second half with a long kick. This we duly knocked forward and thus we found ourselves again under a sustained period of Newcastle pressure. Yet again Newcastle looked certain to score a try but knocked the ball on with the line at their mercy. We were at this stage still unable to clear our lines and were perhaps inevitably penalised for offside. Walder continued to punish us and converted the penalty, with 47 minutes gone the score was 6 - 13..

My notes record that at this stage Stockers came on for Nils Mordt. Looking at the team list in the programme there is no mention of him starting, I can only assume he was a late change to the announced team. It was at this stage that we played our best rugby of the game. On 53 minutes we were awarded a penalty for offside, Barry duly converted this to make the score 9 - 13. We continued to press, getting to within inches of the Newcastle line on the left wing. From this position we spun the ball out, with a three man overlap on the right wing, handling errors aside, the line appeared at our mercy. As the ball was going along the line Hugh Vyvyan the Falcons captain stuck his hand out and was correctly penalised for a deliberate knock on. Why he was not binned for the offence is a mystery to me. Barry duly slotted the penalty between the posts, as we moved into the last quarter of the game the score was 12 - 13.

Fred Gustard suffered a blood injury and was off for five minutes during which we again sustained pressure. Another good Newcastle driving maul and kick through again saw us concede a 5m scrum. Our defence held and we not only managed to clear our lines but set up a good driving maul of our own inside their half, this they brought down. From the resulting penalty we went into the lead for the first time in the game 15 - 13. With 12 minutes of normal time to go most of us thought that we were going to edge this game, alas it was not to be.

The next ten minutes were tense, mistakes were made on both sides. Twice Newcastle kicked the ball out on the full and we spurned a good attacking opportunity in the middle of the field just outside their 22 with a forward pass. Whilst there were howls of protest from those in my immediate vicinity I felt this was a good call. I am aware that some people both after the game and on the messageboard have been very critical of the referee, Mr David Rose. Whilst he did make mistakes I've seen a lot worse performances. To my mind the official running the East side of the pitch made the greater mistakes. I counted at least three times where lineouts were badly out of position, twice in the Falcons favour and once in ours. 

On 78 minutes we were penalised for an offence in the lineout, it was too far away for me to see, those closer feel that it was a harsh call. Whatever, Walder made no mistake with his kick and we were behind again 15 - 16. Having seen Barry pull off a last gasp victory at Sale we all hoped he could do so again. His restart kick however went out on the full and the visitors were presented with their own scrum on half way. After that we never made it out of our own half. To make matters worse on 81 minutes we lost our own lineout which had been solid all afternoon on our 22. The ball was passed to Walder who calmly dropped a goal. This was the last score of the game, it ended after four minutes of injury time15 - 19. 

Frankly the better team on the day won this game. Whilst we may have snatched it on this performance we did not deserve to do so. Full credit to Newcastle, in particular Dave Walder, who played the conditions spot on. Right to the end, when they needed to defend their lead they used clever grubber kicks to keep us pinned inside our 22. In many other ZP teams he would be first choice fly half. based on this performance we are not the only team in Premiership spoilt for choice when it comes to the number 10 position. Their forwards also impressed, never easily giving up possession even it the most difficult of conditions. 

From an Oirish point of view things are not by any means doom and gloom. Our set pieces were good, Bob had a particularly good game. After conceding the initial soft try the mean green wall held out despite everything the Falcons threw at us. My MOTM was Orak. Yes he made some mistakes, inevitable in such conditions, but I lost count of the number of times he got us out of jail with long clearance kick, often taken under pressure.

After a flawless kicking display it seems churlish to criticise Barry but our back line seemed to be missing some of the flair that Tofty brought to it. I also feel that we're missing O'Strudders on the field, not so much in his position, JFK is a fine lock, rather for his leadership. Some of our decision making yesterday was open to question.

One final word of thanks to the players who came out to acknowledge the support after the game. I know that this must be particularly difficult after such a disappointing defeat but it is greatly appreciated. Well done to those of you who did so.

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