But dear oh dear, how close it was. As the clock stood at 80 minutes Jason Strange lined up a penalty kick from just inside the Exiles half, five feet in from the West touchline. The score stood at 24-22. If he kicked it, the referee would blow for full time. You knew it. I knew it. The London Irish players knew it. The fact that the game actually continued for another four minutes afterwards is neither here nor there. Had it gone over, Mr Maybank would have blown! And we’d have deserved to lose. What is more we’d all have been back in the aftermath of so many home matches in the preceding ten months. However, Strange’s kick went wide right and short. There but for the grace of God…. and Jason’s boot.

How near, and yet ….so near!

This was a game of two halves, innit Brian? First half London Irish 21-9. Home and dry? Not a bit of it. Second half London Irish 3-13. We so nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, a worrying habit from last season, doubly so for we had all been promised a new dawn.

Having spent an instructive half hour with Ashley Rowden before the game, I shall make no comment about the referee, Mr Maybank, other than to say that his boots looked polished, that he seemed keen to participate in much of the play, and that this reporter found his inconsistency consistent. He reacted to seemingly identical situations in a variety of ways. Doubtless, he knew best.

In the first half London Irish had basically the better of a Bristol team which came out of the blocks hard, but which seldom strung together a coherent move, or showed any real pace. When they did threaten to threaten, all too often they let themselves down, or were tracked down by the Irish back row or rush defence. Worryingly, however, there were nonetheless a number of occasions when a Bristolian made ground up the middle, seemingly drifting through a number of failed Irish tackles. Although each move was eventually snuffed out, this was cause for concern. Then there was the ever-present threat of Brian Lima, wearing 13 but spending a lot of time loitering in front of Scott Staniforth (11) or Rodd Penney (13) when he went to Stan’s place on the wing.

Within three minutes London Irish had been awarded a free kick, followed by two penalties for Not Back Ten. Now in range of the posts, Barry Everitt (10) knocked over a nice goal from the 10 metre line. 3-0. Feeling good. Within another couple of minutes Bristol’s number 10, Strange, had returned the favour, as LI were adjudged to have pulled down a ruck or maul. 3-3. Literally within minutes, Staniforth ran into a brick wall called Brian Lima. (In the 13th minute he was subbed by Storey, his first appearance for the club, Penney [13] going to the wing.) Before that, Strange put Bristol ahead 3-6 with a penalty for offside. However, bang on 16 minutes in, Barry Everitt dropped the simplest of goals from the 22, dead in front of the posts. 6-6, but if play favoured Irish, it only just did so.

Despite being basically dominant in all phases, this dominance was hardly pronounced, and the ball reaching Hodgson (9) was often of variable quality. This must be the reason why most of the running rugby came on the back of some outstanding London Irish play in the loose - the most encouraging hallmark of our first half. Just after Stan left the field, Dawson (7) was decked right in front of the Bristol posts, having been put away by Bishop (14) on the burst.

Naturally, it had to be Mike Catt (12) who gave the lie to this impression about our back play, right on 28 minutes. Barry had missed the East stand touch from a free kick and the ball was returned to Delon Armitage (15) who missed touch as well, from our 22. However, we were following up well and for a change turned over the Bristol possession. Catty threw a miss pass to that well-known outer centre, Phil Murphy (8), who made forwards but slightly lateral ground before slipping the ball to Bishop in some high speed close traffic just inside the West touchline, just over halfway. Bish wriggled and wriggled, and quickly got the ball to Hodgson, standing in the tramlines. Dodge hurtled away like a startled rabbit, and no-one came close to tackling him. 11-6. Barry missed a difficult kick from out wide, but what the hell? We’ll score more, won’t we?

Following a couple of penalties, kicked to touch, Irish were awarded a scrum five metres in, and between the Bristol 10 and halfway. Our scrum appeared to be under some pressure, and wheeled slightly left, whereupon the ball squirted out on the blindside. Here I have to hold my hand up and say that I missed some of what is alleged to have occurred next, right in front of me. I saw the ball reach Hodgson on the blind side, but evidently not how it did so. Apparently, it was nudged back to him by an offside foot. Depending on who you listen to - and ‘everyone’ saw it clearly - it was Murphy or Hatley (1). My vote is for Hatley who was bound in and in the right place – in which case, was he really offside? However it managed to get into Dodge’s hands, neither the touch judge nor the referee objected, and Dodge hoofed the ball up high and handsome towards the line. He chased and touched it down. 18-6. Barry scored with an almost identical kick to his previous effort. We’ll score some more, now, won’t we?

Following a passage of play which took Bristol right up to the Irish line, and which included Gareth Llewellyn knocking Mr Maybank to the floor, Barry Everitt was penalised for a high tackle, and Mr ‘ever reliable, does he ever miss’ Strange chipped over an easy kick to make the score 18-9. Minutes later, following some mysterious skullduggery between the back rows on the Bristol 10 metre line (West), London Irish were awarded another penalty. (It was the Irish turn!) Obviously, this was not a good location for Barry, who had already missed one conversion from a similar spot. However, maddeningly, from a Bristol point of view, he kicked it without apparent effort. 21-9.

It was now time for oranges and team talks.

The second half started by looking much like the first. Bristol kicked off, and Rodd Penney brought the ball back up the left touchline, where the team indulged in some creative passing at speed right in the middle of what appeared to be 30 players. Somehow Mr Maybank decided that LI had crossed and awarded a penalty. Of course, Strange obliged, and the score became 21-12. Prior to the conversion, Rob Hardwick (3) lay on the deck, out for the count, and we all nodded and told ourselves that the lads would have their revenge for what must have been foul play.

Bristol had clearly had a bit of a cosy fireside chat during the break, and they now started to press, and press hard in all phases of play. In particular they were following up their kicks into the Irish 22, where Barry Everitt found himself under increasing pressure as he sought to relieve the various sieges. Curiously, he never missed touch once as a result, although both he and Delon were guilty of doing so on other, less pressured, occasions.

Both teams were now playing a basically similar game of attempting to break through the middle, usually getting nobbled en route. A multiplicity of errors occurred on both sides, and the number of scrums and penalties appeared to increase. (In fact they didn’t!) What was noticeable was that things were hotting up, and we were no longer having things anything like our own way. Fair play to Bristol, who were hungry and very fit.

Following an Exiles line-out in the 52nd minute, Mr Maybank appeared to divert an attacking Irish pass away from Murphy and Magne (6) from which Bristol made ground. From quite a long way away we missed what has become the talking point in the media – Magne’s alleged push on the referee, but we didn’t miss his yellow card. One law for Llewellyn and another for Magne? Only the video will tell. Surely, if he had intentionally pushed the ref, it should have been red, and if it was accidental, as was Llewellyn’s, then nothing needed saying? Mystifying.

This seemed to deflate the home team, who, from now on in, faced a huge defensive battle, with frequent changes of personnel. Bristol immediately went into the attack in the Irish half, and Irish were pinged for offside in the backs. Strange converted. 21-15, and the signs were starting to look ominous.

With Magne still cooling his heels in the bin, Gustard now replaced Murphy. Fresh legs for our two man back row! Following a blindside break from a lineout Hodgson was tackled into touch by Lima. Dodge is made of stern stuff however, and staggered back to the field of play, just in time for two line-outs just short of the Bristol line in the East, the first the result of his kick, the second the result of Strange’s woeful clearance. Our attempted attack from this line out was stemmed by Storey knocking on in the tackle. Then, Bristol 15, Stortoni’s touch-finder was kicked straight in from outside the 22, but it was called as having come from within. The LI crowd were not happy. However, during the post line-out movement Bristol went offside in the backs. Barry kicked the penalty. 24-15. Thank God for small mercies and Mr Maybank. Paul Franze now made his first appearance, on for an injured Mike Catt. Our two virgin centres played well thereafter, but one had the impression that we greatly missed Catt’s direction of midfield for the rest of the game.

Magne now returned, and Collins came on for Hardwick at tight head. It soon became apparent that this was a bad idea, and one suspects that Michael, like Doug Wheatley, prefers and is better at loose head. We were still under siege and within two minutes Barry sliced into touch and then found touch from 22 to 22. Mercurial!

In the 67th minute the Bristol 22 broke through half the Irish team, before Penney pulled off a dumper tackle, and the ball carrier coughed the ball forward a good few feet. While we sat admiring the tackle, Lima took it up and ran in under the posts. Strange, of course, converted. 24-22. Mr Maybank, go to Specsavers! (It balanced the alleged offside before the second LI try, so not too many complaints.)

Déjà vu? Were we to be denied again at the death? Brian Smith, like Patton, now threw in all his reserves. On came Willis for Hodgson (9), Paice for Flavin (2) and Strudwick for Roche (5). Confusingly, Collins and Paice were both wearing No 16 shirts.

The last ten minutes were mostly Bristol, although Irish were keeping them behind the gainline a lot of the time – but not all the time. Hatley came off with ice on his now famous thumb, and the valiant Hardwick trotted back on to tight head, Collins moving to loose, where he seemed more competent and comfortable. (A tactical substitution or a real injury?) The Irish rush defence was working again, but Bristol kept coming at us, mostly up the middle. (Nothing changes!) Everitt blotted his multi-coloured copybook with a non-tackle of which a complete novice would have been ashamed.

Bristol attacked with a huge overlap to the left, happily unimportant because Strange was tackled in possession. LI strayed offside (Delon?) and THAT kick at goal was awarded.

What followed was odd. Strudwick took the failed kick and tried to run it out of the 22. He was nailed inside the 22 by a fast-advancing Bristol back row. Silly boy. Happily Willis found touch and we got a breather. Bristol retained possession from the line-out, but were repulsed at every turn for three minutes, Barry Everitt ending the match with a chip into touch. Whew!

Impressions

Hodgson was the right man on the right day, my MOTM. He’d tackle a Centurion tank if it threatened our line, and was always sniping around the edges. He did not allow Rauluni, the Bristol 9, an easy day, either. That being said, Rauluni probably broke as frequently as Dodge, but less effectively. Willis may have a longer faster pass than Dodge, but I fancy Hodgson more when there is iffy ball around, and today there was plenty of it. Maybe Brian Smith knew what was coming?

Dodge got some very slow ball, in both halves, and this doubtless accounts for Barry kicking so much, and for the absence of the threequarter movements we were all looking forward to. It strikes me that if we do not get our act together up front, and impose some authority and control, we are going to get hosed by teams like Wasps. I am convinced we have the threes, but that we cannot use them without good ball.

We were penalised 10 times, six of them in the second half. On five occasions it was for offside. Bristol were penalised 11 times, but only four were in the second half.

Our line-out ball was invariably thrown to Big Bob Casey who never failed to make a clean catch. He moved from the front to the back of the line-out as though on rails.

Our line-out was 1-0 up on Bristol’s, in pure terms, but two of our line-outs were penalised for dummying or delayed put-in, and four were pinged for crooked put-in, all except one resulting in scrums to Bristol. (The fourth would have done, but Bristol were themselves pinged for encroaching.) Bristol were twice caught for crooked put-ins.

Of the penalties awarded to us, we attempted goal four times and succeeded three times.

We could probably do with tidying up some of the basics. Everitt kicked to touch from penalties five times, and missed touch on two of them. Catt, (1) Everitt (3) and Armitage (3) between them missed touch seven times in open play (when obviously going for touch.)

This wasn’t great rugby, although it was a nerve-wracking spectacle for the committed club supporter. There was little clear form or shape to the game, possibly as a result of two rush defences, and neither backline really getting going, but just as probably because the game was littered with errors. Luckily for London Irish, the home backline fired sufficiently to secure the first try, which was an absolute peach and will long linger in the memory.

We are still in transition, and we have new players either on the sidelines or not yet arrived, so it is too early to write off the new age of London Irish. It cannot come too quickly.

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