Honest Injun

First impression, from the warm-up, the boys look incredibly fit. It's as if Brian Smith has bought a completely new team and someone has only just taken the cellophane off them. Phil Murphy and Ryan Strudwick in particular look like they've got younger - about 5 years in Ryan's case, we may yet wonder "How many Ryan Strudwick's are on the pitch?" again. The warm up, under the watchful eye of new conditioning coach Dr Evil, looked tougher but also like it paid a lot more attention to making sure stretches were done and that the guys are really loose - should keep the injuries to a minimum.

The Exeter lads looked huge, they really do have some big old units amongst their number, it was very difficult to distinguish between their centres and their forwards. With Irish fielding a very young, academy-based side we couldn't help but wonder if we were going to see a very close battle.

The action was pretty frantic from the kick-off, with Irish showing their new handling skills. The boys seemed very keen to keep the ball alive and off-load from the tackle, this was shown almost immediately with Irish getting the ball wide quickly and feeding a spritely-looking Justin Bishop to go over for a fine try. Fresh from the academy Ross Laidlaw added the extras to give the home side a welcome 7 - 0 lead.

From the re-start the game fell into the same pattern with the visitors keen to solidify their defence and Irish looking to rip it apart. One great break by Laidlaw ended in a rush ahead by new youngster Ryan Strudwick who only had the full-back to beat. Second rows don't try a chip-and-chase very often and we saw why when Ryan's cheeky dink was caught at full-stretch above Exeter full-back Chris Catling's head and returned in a handy counter attack.

Exeter now rumbled stoically into Irish territory causing a couple of worries as the defence was stretched. Irish finally giving a penalty away with hands in the ruck which Alastair Murdoch wisely converted into points.

The visitors now showed their spirit as, buoyed by their points, they managed to hold several lively Irish moves back and exert a bit of pressure of their own. A second Irish infringement, coming in at the side of a ruck, was punished yet again by Murdoch. Despite showing all the flair, Irish were only one point clear of the ND1 side.

The two sides parried for a short while with Exeter showing a great deal of ambition and no lack of skill, not to mention using their bulk well. The fortunes turned to Irish after a penalty was reversed with one of the visitors caught by the touch judge stamping on Ross Laidlaw at the breakdown. Irish used the penalty to gain territory and an exuberant Declan Danaher showing his hunger for the game with a massive break through the middle of the Exeter defence. The forwards joined him and forger forwards, Michael Collins popping off the back of the resulting maul to score a classic forward’s try under the sticks. The "easy" conversion was charged down by the visitors who were showing that, despite the 2 - 0 try deficit, they weren't giving up.

The visitors again, slowly but surely, exerted all the pressure they could, making half-breaks and using a massive rolling-maul, marshaled excellently by ex-Irish Kevin Barrett, to great effect to gain territory. The Irish defence, unbowed by their new attacking-edge, held firm and, well-disciplined, giving nothing away. Exeter eventually had to make do with a drop-goal from their fly-half Adam Staniforth (brother of our very own Scot).

Exeter kept up the pressure right to the end of the half forging forward and making some ground, they were awarded another kickable penalty just before the break but Murdoch pushed it just wide leaving the half-time score as 12 - 9. It was not really a reflection of the play, Irish had looked dangerous throughout with Exteter having to work hard for every yard. The visiting team, though, had shown their ability and their nous in taking all the points they could.

Irish remained on the pitch at half time, something I've never seen them do, with the Devon lads dashing to the changing-rooms for their interval oranges. The only change I noted was Robbie Russell coming on for David Paice at hooker.

The second half opening was similar to the first's with the home team exerting massive pressure and showing a lot of ambition to work the ball wide into space. The forwards were also backing up well keeping with play and adding a lot of go-forward when the play broke down. Exeter twice had to illegally disrupt mauls to stop them with Irish taking the first penalty quickly and using the second to gain a useful lineout yards from the Exeter try-line. To the visitors' credit they held firm and disciplined eventually clearing the ball to the Irish backs who chose to run it. A sublime piece of skill from Laidlaw finally making the difference to see him go over for a deserved score, which he duly converted.

Exeter gamely fought themselves back into it, unluckily missing another kickable penalty after a short period of testing the Irish defence. Irish, though were steadfastly keeping their shape and showing yet more ambition. A fine performance from Justin Bishop came to an end as he was replaced by youngster Charlie Gower. Charlie came on with no number on his back and will now be awarded the Paul Sackey memorial trophy for "Feats of invisibility on the field of play". Like a cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey the plucky winger managed to have passes sprayed around, but never to, him for the remainder of the match like so many hopeful Photon Torpedos. He still managed to have an impact on the match, well done young sir.

Phil Murphy now chose to show his new-found get-up-and-go firing from a scrum and hurtling deep into Exeter territory, the canny visitors first slowed him down and then pulled the ensuing maul down to relieve the pressure. The kick was taken to the side just inside the Exeter 22m line. Sadly the lineout, which had mostly been excellent with Strudwick and Gary Johnson holding their own, was lost to the Exeter pack.

Exeter tried to use the possession to break out of their half but the Irish pressure was kept-up and the ball, almost inevitably, ended up back in home hands. Spurred on by the forwards efforts, the backs now working well together, spun the ball out wide to the right to the grateful hands of a flying Rodd Penney who scorched through the Exeter line to score a fine try. Laidlaw, again, added the extras.

The home side were now into their stride. Phil Murphy, again, made a superb break from a maul, gaining 20 or 30 yards before offloading well and the backs re-took charge. The ball moved quickly to the still speeding Penney who scored a second try. Laidlaw, a stickler for asymmetry, missed the conversion.

Exeter were not going home with nothing though and worked very hard to finally leave their half and push Irish back manfully. The made a number of breaks and edged towards the Irish try-line. Their pack had been competing well all match and now started to turn the screw. A scrum was dragged down by the tiring (and increasingly difficult to keep track of - I think Dave Paice was propping at this point) Irish front-row. Exe, chose to re-take the scrum and got a good shove on, their number 8 Richard Baxter picking up ably and breaching the Irish whitewash for a consolation away try. Murdoch took the opportunity to capitalise and made the conversion safe.

With the match virtually sewn-up the home side rang the changes (and I lost track of them). We got to see Charles Metzger replace Dodge and the rampant Murphy replaced by Matthew Banahan. A fine showing from youngster Gary Johnson (21) was brought to an end by an even younger (17) Charlie Gardner. At this point we had a team which included three 17 year olds and an 18 year old, they made a very good fist of it too.

In a last move Irish kicked the ball behind the Exeter defence, forcing them to turn, they then pressured them into the turn-over and gave Richard Thorpe a fine back-row try, snaffling the ball and then using his speed and dexterity to jink through the Exeter defence and cross the line. It was enough Laidlaw missed the conversion but the game was over.

Irish 36 - 16 Exeter

The result wasn't really in doubt from the first kick, Exeter proved very able and, at times, a real handful but the Irish just seemed to want to win - a lot! From coming out to warm-up the men in green simply looked hungry for it, and this was just a friendly. You got the impression that every single one, from club captain Ryan down to the first-team debutant academy lads were playing with an eye to making the shirt theirs for the coming season, given some of the lacklustre performances last year it was really lovely to see.

Exeter can be very proud of their boys, they were in the match for most of the duration and showed wisdom in using their strengths to good effect. Quins won't have it all their own way this year and if the multi-coloured ones haven't beefed their pack up since I last saw them, they may have a very long season indeed if this is the level of forward play in ND1.

Can we read anything into next week's team from this match? I'm not sure. From this team I'd say Ryan, Dec, Spud, Bish, Shane Geraghty and Ross Laidlaw all have reason to think they may start against Leeds. James Storey, Rodd Penney, Paul Hodgson and Michael Collins all showed that they would not look out-of-place either. There really is a lot of competition for the places and that can only be a good thing. My money, if I had to pick one from all of them, would go on "8. P. Murphy" appearing on the team sheet next week as he really is our only genuine number 8 at the moment. On last night's form he'd have taken the shirt from Roland Reid last year. I make him my man of the match.

It was an excellent evening, with the club going to a great deal of effort to make the supporters welcome and publicise the up-coming events. There is definitely a buzz down in Sunbury at the moment, if they convert this into results we will have a dream of a season.

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