The pre-match meal was moules and frites, with accompanying white wine, before getting into my seat in front of the tele. As this report is from the tele it is very long so apologies if you get bored. 

Mr Davey blew his whistle and the boy wonder got us under way. Catt caught the ball and touch was made, Irish knocked on at the resulting lineout before winning a free kick at the scrum as Newcastle drove in at an angle. As we have seen with this team, the ball was quickly moved down the line before Penney was bought down just over the halfway line, Newcastle slowed the ball up and the recycled ball was knocked on by our new hooker.

 An exchange of kicks led to an Irish lineout on the halfway line, Coetzee was penalised for not throwing straight, not by the touch judge who was dead in line by but Mr Davey who was watching from 5 yards away. From the resulting scrum, which Irish were dominating, Newcastle wheeled to free up Charvis, as the rush defence flew up, Bish stole the ball on the floor and Delon was sent on his way outstripping the defence before being hammered into touch by Burke. Newcastle cleared their line and there followed a kicking battle for territory, interspersed by the shrill of Mr Davey’s whistle.

From half-way the lineout was stolen by Newcastle and from the drive Irish cleared for a lineout to Newcastle 7 metres out. Constant pressure from Newcastle led to Irish being penalised in front of the post for not rolling away and Wilko duly slotted the penalty

13 mins Newcastle 3 – Irish 0

Newcastle continued to drive from the restart before Irish won a lineout, 5 metres from their own try line. The maul was bought down illegally and Barry cleared to the Irish 10 metre line. From the resulting lineout Irish produced a dynamic maul that drove right up to the Newcastle 22. Newcastle again illegally bought it down, penalty awarded but no card. Barry put us level.

18 mins Newcastle 3 – Irish 3

From the restart, Irish knocked on, Newcastle drove and the ball was fed out wide. Wilkinson drew in Delon and set Burke up on the Crash Bang. Catty saw the move but missed the tackle and Burke slid in for a try. Wilko missed the conversion.

22 min Newcastle 8 – Irish 3

From the restart, Roche was penalised as he rolled away, for not rolling away, Newcastle continued to pressure Irish and after 25 minutes I really felt the game was going away from us. I should have had more faith, the forwards stepped up a gear and pushed Irish back into the game. As Irish built a platform on halfway, Charvis tried to slow the ball down on the floor. The forwards rucked him out but not quick enough for Mr Davey and Barry made him pay.

30 mins Newcastle 8 – Irish 6

Both sides continue to trade kicks for territory before Flutey broke with a delightful chip over the onrushing defence. He collected his own kick before the forwards drove on and Newcastle were pinged for offside. Meat and drink for Barry

35 mins Newcastle 8 – Irish 9

From the restart Irish continued to drive until a true bit of skill lit up the game. As the forwards drove, Barry waltzed through the flat defence, popped to Catty on the angle who fed Flutey for a try under the posts. Barry made the conversion as Mr Davey blew for half time

40 mins Newcastle 8 – Irish 16

Halftime was livened up by me spilling red wine all over the lounge, I am not sure if this is because of the girls in the hot tub or the site of a grinning Bisach in a sea of glum faces.

From the kick-off, Newcastle drove up before Barry fly-hacked a loose pass. Catty reacted first and kicked on from the 22 but for an unlucky bounce Catt or the supporting Delon would have certainly scored. Tait slid over his own line and Irish had a 5 metre scrum. As the scrum was set, the pack drove over the line for Murphy to score, Barry kept up his 100% record.

46 mins Newcastle 8 – Irish 23

At this point I expected us to dominate and the site of Rob Andrew with a face like a smacked arse seemed to confirm it. However from a Newcastle line out, Irish disrupted and were penalised, Wilkinson narrowed the gap.

48 mins Newcastle 11 – Irish 23

From the restart, Irish spread the ball wide before Flutey chipped over the defence again. This time he was blocked off by the Newcastle 7, although according to Mr Davey, Flutey made no attempt to go around him! Newcastle broke and from a scrum on the Irish 22, Mr Davey penalised the Irish. Catty did his ‘bemused look’ however on this occasion Mr Davey was right, he called a ruck and Catty clearly fed the ball back with his hands. Wilko reduced the gap further.

51 mins Newcastle 14 – Irish 23

Irish continued to play fast flowing rugby before Wilkinson kicked an outrageous kick to touch from his own try line to 6 metres from the Irish try line. Coetzee failed to get the ball in despite 4 prompts from Mr Davey, Newcastle knocked on from the free kick and Irish cleared their lines. Bob drove on before he was penalised by Mr Davey for holding on. It was a very poor decision; Davey was shouting ‘hands off, hands off’ to the Newcastle players before pinging Bob. He then stated to the Irish players that Bob had got isolated which was interesting bearing in mind the other 6 Irish players in the ruck. Wilko slotted the penalty whilst Bob got a telling off from Mr Davey.

58 mins Newcastle 17 – Irish 23

From the restart, Flutey tackled Charvis and turned him. Charvis didn’t release the ball and Rikki got pinged for not rolling away! Death by penalty!

63 mins Newcastle 20 – Irish 23

The pressure was now on but Irish continued to build until Penney knocked on at the Newcastle 22 from the back of a ruck. Newcastle cleared their lines and then turned the ball over on the Irish 22. We knew the script, we have all been here before. Wilko stepped back into the pocket, the ball was fed to him, he kicked ……………………….. and just missed the corner flag.

Barry and Burke swapped kicks for territory until Delon slid in and caught the ball on halfway and the backs started to spray the ball around. The forwards piled in as Irish pressured the Newcastle 22 until Fraan knocked on.

Strudders and Russell were bought on for Casey and Coetzee as Irish mauled up to the Newcastle 22 before knocking on. Newcastle broke and had numbers on the wing however Delon gambled and knocked back a Charvis pass. Catty reacted first again and kicked though as Burke touched down behind his own posts. An exchange of kicks led to an Irish lineout 10 metres from their own try line.  Brown trousers time! Russell kept it short and simple, smoothing that neither side did for the whole game and Willis cleared to halfway.

On halfway, Burke knocked on (Mr Davey claimed it went backwards) and the ball was fed to Wilkinson who was cut in half by a fantastic Penney tackle. The forwards drove Newcastle back to their 22 before being penalised for going in at the side. Wilkinson cleared to the Irish 22, one minute to go, Wilkinson in the pocket however the Irish forwards slowed the ball down sufficiently until Parling knocked on and Mr Davey blew for full-time.

Final Score Newcastle 20 – Irish 23

Post match thoughts

The game was stop/start but for me Irish played the better Rugby and deserved their win. We should have out the game out of reach but a combination of good field kicking by Newcastle and silly knock-ons by Irish nearly let Newcastle sneak a point. We are now joint second and if we want to finish in the top 4 then we must win games away at places like Kingston Park

Man of the Match

Immediately after watching the game I would have given the award to Rautenbach who was excellent however after watching the game again on DVD I would give it to Barry for his 100% kicking record and his break for the first try. Mr Smith has a selection headache for next week, Flutey is no fullback, so Horak should come back in but can he really drop Barry after a performance like that.

Finally, Rob Andrew, somewhere there is a village missing its idiot. ‘We were mugged’ ‘The best team lost’. Put your toys back in your pram and learn to show a bit of respect for the winning side.

 

 

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