Brrrrrrrr
The Snowmen cometh
Brrrrrrrr
By Griff
December 15 2003
With a deficit of 4 points from the away leg, and having chosen to rest a couple of key players London Irish had a job on their hands in the home leg of the first round of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.
Brrrrrrrr
December 15 2003
With a deficit of 4 points from the away leg, and having chosen to rest a couple of key players London Irish had a job on their hands in the home leg of the first round of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.
Irish had struggled to contain the Southern French (not Italian if you read this Rugby Times) team who had shown huge spirit and not a little talent at Stade de Sapiac last Sunday. The defensive patterns that Irish use rely on first-up tackles being made and too many were missed or evaded. This would have to change if they were to stay in the competition.
Irish welcomed Madejski debutants Delon Armitage on the wing for Paul Sackey and Mike Haslett in the back row. They also saw the welcome return of captain Ryan Strudwick and prop Rob Hardwick.
For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game Irish were rampant, Montauban rarely touched the ball and when they did were forced to kick to eaase the massive pressure imposed by the home side. This pressure began to show on the scroeboard with three penalties within kicking range, two being converted by Mark Mapletoft (in his "little white boots"). Buoyed by their success, and helped by the (seemingly early) sin-binning of the Montauban loosehead, Irish continued to run riot with, first, Phil Murphy surging through the French defence then Michael Horak cutting through the centre.
After 25 minutes the home side were 23 - 0 up and seemed to be cruising but the visitors had other plans. From the restart of the second try Montauban seemed to have found their game and piled pressure towards the Irish try-line. Desperate defence held them up but they continued to press forward. After what seemed an age Pual Gustard was sent to the bin for persisitent off-side (although, to my eye it was his first ping) and the pressure finally told with the big French pack rumbling over for a try.
Following the restart Montauban continued in the same vein with drive after drive pushing the Irish defence ever backwards. All hopes the home-fans had of their boys holding steady were dashed when another massive effort from the visitors pack pushed over for another try.
A third converted penalty from Mark Mapletoft gave the home-side hope but by now they knew they would have to play better to win.
From being 23 points ahead and cruising, Irish went into the break a mere 9 points up (5 in competition terms) and we knew we had a usual London Irish second-half on our hands.
From the whistle Montauban showed that their tails were well and truly up. They had rediscovered how to disrupt their hosts and went about carrying on from where they had left off in the first half. Irish, though, had obviously been told to stop this disruption and started to exert their own pattern on the game.
After a frenetic battle in mid-field Michael Horak raced through the Montauban defence to score his second try of the day. Irish had their buffer, surely they'd hold on now.
The visitors, however, had other ideas. Far from being demoralized by this score they re-doubled their efforts and rumbled forward once more. Irish threw a great many players into their defensive effort allowing Montauban to spin the ball out to their left wing for a fine score.
Both sides now knew they could score but also that, if they let their concentration drop for a second, so could their opposition. The game ground into a battle to safely drive the ball forward. Huge tackles prompted turn-overs and counter-attacks by both sides were caught and returned. One Montauban counter very nearly caused heartbreak, with their centre running, seemingly clear, for the line, the visitors were horrified to see the referee signal that the final pass had gone forward. The home side breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Irish, eventually, having the better of the play managed to hold Montauban into their own half forcing the visitors, again, to give away the penalty and relieve a little pressure.
Many is the time this season when we, as Irish supporters, have requested a game in which we are more than a score ahead in the closing stages. With 10 minutes to play Irish were 33 - 24 ahead, but with the four point defecit from the previous leg this was, ironically, no respite. For the final ten minutes Montauban threw themselves repeatedly into attack after attack, making good ground with ball in hand and kicking intelligently. On far too many occasions Irish were forced to defend lineouts and scrums on their own five metre line, all were held out and counter attacks gave the home crowd hope of the dreamed about easy end to a game but it never came.
In the final minute of injury time another conuter by Irish was impeded illegally in the Montaban half and Mark Mapletoft, with the last kick of the game, scored the easing 3 points. Irish had, again, made hard work for themselves but ultimately come away with the result.
It was pleasing to see that for their mammoth efforts the lovely folk of Montauban were rewarded with a Lucky Loser spot in the next round and a trip to Quins.
I feel I have to add a caveat to the above report. You see, our co-ordinating editor, BrianC, has recently changed jobs and had forgotten to put the call out for a reporter. As a consequnce I assumed we had one and took no notes. The score is correct and I know I've got the right number of tries but the order of scoring may be a little.... well, made up frankly. I hope I guessed right.
Irish welcomed Madejski debutants Delon Armitage on the wing for Paul Sackey and Mike Haslett in the back row. They also saw the welcome return of captain Ryan Strudwick and prop Rob Hardwick.
For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the game Irish were rampant, Montauban rarely touched the ball and when they did were forced to kick to eaase the massive pressure imposed by the home side. This pressure began to show on the scroeboard with three penalties within kicking range, two being converted by Mark Mapletoft (in his "little white boots"). Buoyed by their success, and helped by the (seemingly early) sin-binning of the Montauban loosehead, Irish continued to run riot with, first, Phil Murphy surging through the French defence then Michael Horak cutting through the centre.
After 25 minutes the home side were 23 - 0 up and seemed to be cruising but the visitors had other plans. From the restart of the second try Montauban seemed to have found their game and piled pressure towards the Irish try-line. Desperate defence held them up but they continued to press forward. After what seemed an age Pual Gustard was sent to the bin for persisitent off-side (although, to my eye it was his first ping) and the pressure finally told with the big French pack rumbling over for a try.
Following the restart Montauban continued in the same vein with drive after drive pushing the Irish defence ever backwards. All hopes the home-fans had of their boys holding steady were dashed when another massive effort from the visitors pack pushed over for another try.
A third converted penalty from Mark Mapletoft gave the home-side hope but by now they knew they would have to play better to win.
From being 23 points ahead and cruising, Irish went into the break a mere 9 points up (5 in competition terms) and we knew we had a usual London Irish second-half on our hands.
From the whistle Montauban showed that their tails were well and truly up. They had rediscovered how to disrupt their hosts and went about carrying on from where they had left off in the first half. Irish, though, had obviously been told to stop this disruption and started to exert their own pattern on the game.
After a frenetic battle in mid-field Michael Horak raced through the Montauban defence to score his second try of the day. Irish had their buffer, surely they'd hold on now.
The visitors, however, had other ideas. Far from being demoralized by this score they re-doubled their efforts and rumbled forward once more. Irish threw a great many players into their defensive effort allowing Montauban to spin the ball out to their left wing for a fine score.
Both sides now knew they could score but also that, if they let their concentration drop for a second, so could their opposition. The game ground into a battle to safely drive the ball forward. Huge tackles prompted turn-overs and counter-attacks by both sides were caught and returned. One Montauban counter very nearly caused heartbreak, with their centre running, seemingly clear, for the line, the visitors were horrified to see the referee signal that the final pass had gone forward. The home side breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Irish, eventually, having the better of the play managed to hold Montauban into their own half forcing the visitors, again, to give away the penalty and relieve a little pressure.
Many is the time this season when we, as Irish supporters, have requested a game in which we are more than a score ahead in the closing stages. With 10 minutes to play Irish were 33 - 24 ahead, but with the four point defecit from the previous leg this was, ironically, no respite. For the final ten minutes Montauban threw themselves repeatedly into attack after attack, making good ground with ball in hand and kicking intelligently. On far too many occasions Irish were forced to defend lineouts and scrums on their own five metre line, all were held out and counter attacks gave the home crowd hope of the dreamed about easy end to a game but it never came.
In the final minute of injury time another conuter by Irish was impeded illegally in the Montaban half and Mark Mapletoft, with the last kick of the game, scored the easing 3 points. Irish had, again, made hard work for themselves but ultimately come away with the result.
It was pleasing to see that for their mammoth efforts the lovely folk of Montauban were rewarded with a Lucky Loser spot in the next round and a trip to Quins.
I feel I have to add a caveat to the above report. You see, our co-ordinating editor, BrianC, has recently changed jobs and had forgotten to put the call out for a reporter. As a consequnce I assumed we had one and took no notes. The score is correct and I know I've got the right number of tries but the order of scoring may be a little.... well, made up frankly. I hope I guessed right.
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