It’s a game of two ‘alves innit saint?
By Chris Tampsett
November 1 2004
Consider this as you rejoice in this win. The difference between the two sides on the day was 24 points. A thrashing you might say!!
November 1 2004
Consider this as you rejoice in this win. The difference between the two sides on the day was 24 points. A thrashing you might say!!
London Irish 42 – Auch 18.
Take away Delons first try. Which came as the result of perhaps the most gratuitous dummy taking ever witnessed at the Madstad. Take away his second try, which didn’t come from great skilful endeavour from the team, but from an opportunist interception and unequal sprinting contest, and add the Auch try at the end which surely would have been scored but for Delons youthful exuberance and never say die attitude. (not to mention his breathtaking pace). What you would have? If you took away those three events would be a very close and nail biting game.
We should indeed count our blessings as London Irish supporters that Corin Palmer and Toby Booth have given us the gift of this academy boy, who is surely destined for much bigger things. For sheer impact on the game, there can only be one MOTM this week. Stand up Delon. We are very proud of you.
So. Hero worship over, back to the game.
Conor had stated publicly that our intention was to “put this game away” in the first 30 minutes, and that is just what happened. Clearly last week in Auch, the coaches had sussed out that man for man, Auch could not live with Irish, and set a game plan to cut our runners loose and attack from all angles. From the very first act of the game Irish drove into the Auch 22, the Auch 7 came in at the side of the ruck, Kickable penalty to Irish from which Tofty hit the post. We didn’t have to wait long for a score though, as Auch cleared up field, the ball was worked to the right and left Delon with a simple one on four just inside our half and two metres in from the touchline. He made a couple of yards. Dummied to hand the ball to his would be tackler, and with a flash, he was gone. He appeared again seconds later touching down in the corner, Tofty got the extras, and after just three minutes it was 7 – 0 to Irish.
At this stage, Dodge and Tofty were looking like they had been joined at the hip from birth. Against this kind of defence our halfbacks looked really classy and inventive, although a lot of the play looked unstructured it was mighty effective. Basically Irish just threw the sink at Auch. A few minutes later Irish attacked down the left, and had they secured quick ball, would surely have scored, but the Auch 7 killed it and was binned. Irish kicked the corner, won the lineout and drove it over. Robbie Russell becoming only the 2nd Irish forward to score a try in eight Months. Tofty converted, 14 – 0.
After this Auch make one of their rare 1st half excursions into our half. Gussie kills a ruck and Auch Kick the penalty 14 – 3. Then Irish really turn on the gas and attack incessantly for about 10 minutes which culminates in the best try we have seen at the Madstad (From our boys anyway) for a very long time. From a scrum on our 10 Mtre line the ball goes to Tofty, The French are up quickly so Tofty chips, and Nils bursts through and catches it on the full, he is caught but ships it on to Stan, who keeps it alive beautifully, the backs and forwards combine and keep the ball working left and right, Tofty as at least four touches and finally puts the big Murph over. (Quelle horeure, two tries from forwards) Tofty adds the extras and it is 21 – 3 after 21 minutes.
At 28 minutes, Auch have the ball between their own 10 Metre line and halfway. Old Widebeast Strudwick is lurking among the girls, and before you could say get out of the bl$$dy way, he has intercepted an Auch pass between the centres. He accelerates for the line like the Ferrari he is, but gets cught by a souped up Lada, so he unloads to nils, who sends the ball back right for a very well deserved try to Tofty. He converts his own try, and it is 28 Mins Irish 28 – Auch 3.
Auch to their credit kept on trying to play, and reduced the deficit with a Penalty on the half our to 28 – 6. Irish respond with another good try. From a scrum 10 metres from the Auch line, Murph picks up and goes blind, Tofty loops round and gets a two on one with the Auch winger. Draws him and passes to Bish for a touch down in the corner, Tofty gets the extras, and true to Conors promise the game is over at 35 – 6 in a little over half an hour.
The only remaining points of note from the first half, are the French 11 getting binned for not retreating at a tap[ penalty, and Wobbie getting Binned for a punch.
So after a brilliant and exciting 1st half, the faithfull were salivating over the prospect of a 70 or 80 point win. But what Conor hadn’t told us, was that after putting the game away in the first 30 minutes, we would get all negative.
In reality, there were loads of substitutions. Probably the biggest impact was made by David Paice, but overall the effect was to disrupt our balance, and clearly the fireworks were put back in the box for the 2nd half. It was the 56th minute before any more points were added. The Armitage boy, getting fed up with not having the ball, decided to nick it himself, and sprinted, as if making off with a wallet in Oxford street. The Auch team played the part of the Metropolitan police, and didn’t even bother to chase him. (There’s no point innit?). 56 Minutes 42 – 6.
Now normally with French teams, this is where the shrug comes in handy, but not this lot. Although they were spotted in Reading night clubs on Saturday, they certainly finished stronger than our boys. They got two tries in the 63rd and 78th minute with the second being converted, during which the only Irish bright spot was a 40 metre break of breathtaking quality from Stan the man, and this meant that we came into added time with the score at 42 – 18 to Irish.
Then came the last little bit of magic from our young winger. Auch kicked trough, and had two players with no one to beat. The closest chaser was tofty, with Delon 5 Metres back. The look of disbelief on the Auch players face when Delon beat him to the touchdown will stay with me for a few days, and the game ended 42 – 18.
Irish won the first half 35 – 6, and Auch won the second half 12 – 7.
All in all a good win, and it sets up a great match up with Pau in December. Can’t wait!!
So what does all this mean??
Well, I think that actually Auch were pretty poor. We will not come up against quite such disorganised defence again this season, and I think this is an illustration of the quality of the ZP. There were some noteworthy performances from Delon, Dodge, Tofty Nils, Murph and Strudders, so for me there were a lot of positives. However, we look so thin at tight head cover, that I must believe we will recruit a new one soon. Apparently Pierre has an injured foot, so that means that when we get past Rob Hardwick, we only have opensides for cover. Dougie did show us another of his skills when throwing in to the lineout when needed though. Young Adam Halsey did a good job at loosehead, and I humbly suggest that he is probably our best scrummager at the moment. I would like to see more of him. So what of next week.
Well Worcester fancy their chances!!
I have it on good authority, that they see us as possibly the softest touch in the ZP on our own ground, and they have targeted next weeks game as their first away win. Well, We’ll just have to wait and see. I personally think that this game has raised a lot of questions. We definitely play all our best games when Nils starts, so you might suggest Catty at 10 and Nils at 12, but as we saw last week, Catty is not the same quality of Kicker as either Tofty or Barry. Stan looked a class act at 13, and both of the wingers deserve to keep their place. So what do you do? Leave Catty on the Bench?? Such riches in the backs, but such problems with injuries in the forwards.
I thought Gussie had a good game yesterday, but I think Roland Reid will come in at 8, with Slim line Murph moving to 6 and Gussie to the bench. Declan to keep the 7 shirt. If all three are fit then the front row picks itself (Simply because we currently don’t have adequate cover), and after yesterdays performance I think Strudders will get the nod over Nick the ball to cuddle up with Big Bob in the 2nd row.
Well, That doesn’t look a bad team really, does it??
Come on then Worcester…. Lets see what you’ve got!!!
Take away Delons first try. Which came as the result of perhaps the most gratuitous dummy taking ever witnessed at the Madstad. Take away his second try, which didn’t come from great skilful endeavour from the team, but from an opportunist interception and unequal sprinting contest, and add the Auch try at the end which surely would have been scored but for Delons youthful exuberance and never say die attitude. (not to mention his breathtaking pace). What you would have? If you took away those three events would be a very close and nail biting game.
We should indeed count our blessings as London Irish supporters that Corin Palmer and Toby Booth have given us the gift of this academy boy, who is surely destined for much bigger things. For sheer impact on the game, there can only be one MOTM this week. Stand up Delon. We are very proud of you.
So. Hero worship over, back to the game.
Conor had stated publicly that our intention was to “put this game away” in the first 30 minutes, and that is just what happened. Clearly last week in Auch, the coaches had sussed out that man for man, Auch could not live with Irish, and set a game plan to cut our runners loose and attack from all angles. From the very first act of the game Irish drove into the Auch 22, the Auch 7 came in at the side of the ruck, Kickable penalty to Irish from which Tofty hit the post. We didn’t have to wait long for a score though, as Auch cleared up field, the ball was worked to the right and left Delon with a simple one on four just inside our half and two metres in from the touchline. He made a couple of yards. Dummied to hand the ball to his would be tackler, and with a flash, he was gone. He appeared again seconds later touching down in the corner, Tofty got the extras, and after just three minutes it was 7 – 0 to Irish.
At this stage, Dodge and Tofty were looking like they had been joined at the hip from birth. Against this kind of defence our halfbacks looked really classy and inventive, although a lot of the play looked unstructured it was mighty effective. Basically Irish just threw the sink at Auch. A few minutes later Irish attacked down the left, and had they secured quick ball, would surely have scored, but the Auch 7 killed it and was binned. Irish kicked the corner, won the lineout and drove it over. Robbie Russell becoming only the 2nd Irish forward to score a try in eight Months. Tofty converted, 14 – 0.
After this Auch make one of their rare 1st half excursions into our half. Gussie kills a ruck and Auch Kick the penalty 14 – 3. Then Irish really turn on the gas and attack incessantly for about 10 minutes which culminates in the best try we have seen at the Madstad (From our boys anyway) for a very long time. From a scrum on our 10 Mtre line the ball goes to Tofty, The French are up quickly so Tofty chips, and Nils bursts through and catches it on the full, he is caught but ships it on to Stan, who keeps it alive beautifully, the backs and forwards combine and keep the ball working left and right, Tofty as at least four touches and finally puts the big Murph over. (Quelle horeure, two tries from forwards) Tofty adds the extras and it is 21 – 3 after 21 minutes.
At 28 minutes, Auch have the ball between their own 10 Metre line and halfway. Old Widebeast Strudwick is lurking among the girls, and before you could say get out of the bl$$dy way, he has intercepted an Auch pass between the centres. He accelerates for the line like the Ferrari he is, but gets cught by a souped up Lada, so he unloads to nils, who sends the ball back right for a very well deserved try to Tofty. He converts his own try, and it is 28 Mins Irish 28 – Auch 3.
Auch to their credit kept on trying to play, and reduced the deficit with a Penalty on the half our to 28 – 6. Irish respond with another good try. From a scrum 10 metres from the Auch line, Murph picks up and goes blind, Tofty loops round and gets a two on one with the Auch winger. Draws him and passes to Bish for a touch down in the corner, Tofty gets the extras, and true to Conors promise the game is over at 35 – 6 in a little over half an hour.
The only remaining points of note from the first half, are the French 11 getting binned for not retreating at a tap[ penalty, and Wobbie getting Binned for a punch.
So after a brilliant and exciting 1st half, the faithfull were salivating over the prospect of a 70 or 80 point win. But what Conor hadn’t told us, was that after putting the game away in the first 30 minutes, we would get all negative.
In reality, there were loads of substitutions. Probably the biggest impact was made by David Paice, but overall the effect was to disrupt our balance, and clearly the fireworks were put back in the box for the 2nd half. It was the 56th minute before any more points were added. The Armitage boy, getting fed up with not having the ball, decided to nick it himself, and sprinted, as if making off with a wallet in Oxford street. The Auch team played the part of the Metropolitan police, and didn’t even bother to chase him. (There’s no point innit?). 56 Minutes 42 – 6.
Now normally with French teams, this is where the shrug comes in handy, but not this lot. Although they were spotted in Reading night clubs on Saturday, they certainly finished stronger than our boys. They got two tries in the 63rd and 78th minute with the second being converted, during which the only Irish bright spot was a 40 metre break of breathtaking quality from Stan the man, and this meant that we came into added time with the score at 42 – 18 to Irish.
Then came the last little bit of magic from our young winger. Auch kicked trough, and had two players with no one to beat. The closest chaser was tofty, with Delon 5 Metres back. The look of disbelief on the Auch players face when Delon beat him to the touchdown will stay with me for a few days, and the game ended 42 – 18.
Irish won the first half 35 – 6, and Auch won the second half 12 – 7.
All in all a good win, and it sets up a great match up with Pau in December. Can’t wait!!
So what does all this mean??
Well, I think that actually Auch were pretty poor. We will not come up against quite such disorganised defence again this season, and I think this is an illustration of the quality of the ZP. There were some noteworthy performances from Delon, Dodge, Tofty Nils, Murph and Strudders, so for me there were a lot of positives. However, we look so thin at tight head cover, that I must believe we will recruit a new one soon. Apparently Pierre has an injured foot, so that means that when we get past Rob Hardwick, we only have opensides for cover. Dougie did show us another of his skills when throwing in to the lineout when needed though. Young Adam Halsey did a good job at loosehead, and I humbly suggest that he is probably our best scrummager at the moment. I would like to see more of him. So what of next week.
Well Worcester fancy their chances!!
I have it on good authority, that they see us as possibly the softest touch in the ZP on our own ground, and they have targeted next weeks game as their first away win. Well, We’ll just have to wait and see. I personally think that this game has raised a lot of questions. We definitely play all our best games when Nils starts, so you might suggest Catty at 10 and Nils at 12, but as we saw last week, Catty is not the same quality of Kicker as either Tofty or Barry. Stan looked a class act at 13, and both of the wingers deserve to keep their place. So what do you do? Leave Catty on the Bench?? Such riches in the backs, but such problems with injuries in the forwards.
I thought Gussie had a good game yesterday, but I think Roland Reid will come in at 8, with Slim line Murph moving to 6 and Gussie to the bench. Declan to keep the 7 shirt. If all three are fit then the front row picks itself (Simply because we currently don’t have adequate cover), and after yesterdays performance I think Strudders will get the nod over Nick the ball to cuddle up with Big Bob in the 2nd row.
Well, That doesn’t look a bad team really, does it??
Come on then Worcester…. Lets see what you’ve got!!!
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