Victory at Reading - The Fans View


By Hippo and the Clan
January 9 2004

LONDON IRISH AWAY. I think we liked this one. In the words of BBF "Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!" Worrying re Injuries particularly to Rob Hunter who remained prone on the pitch for a while. After trip to hospital reportedly given the all clear. A selection of your comments follows….. LONDON IRISH AWAY

A very good second half performance, we did however pick up a few injuries, Rob Hunter does not sound good at all.  Ajack

 

fantastic result well done to the boys.
the half time score didnt really reflect the way the boys were playing.
foxy had another beaut, big tevita made a splendid start, big rob was a great game before his injury, good to see chewie back, excellent in the loose.
the scrummaging today was absoultely first class overall, especailly in the second half.
AB was here there and everywhere, knocking seven bells out of anyone who even looked like crossing the gameline.
tucker did very well after coming on for chrissy hyndman but all the subs came on and did well, chicken, snowy, dan, (briefly)
but for me the man of the match was bruce
the bloke is completely different gravy a class above everyone else in a yellow or a green shirt. Rob Richmond

 

Man of the Match in my inexperienced opinion was Darren Fox, he did'nt seem to stop moving and made some telling breaks.
However, without wishing to repeat previous sentiments don't we blow hot and cold with monotonous regularity. Kingsleyb

 

I agree that Darren Fox was MOM, he has been superb recently. His first touch was a knock on but he was strong enough to pull that round to a fine top notch effort. Hoddros

 

Downsides for me however were the time it took to get medical help to Rob Hunter, play continuing whilst he was still on the ground and Pearson as referee. The man was incurring the wrath of many Irish fans near me and had his usual poor game.
Sharky had a stormer as did Tucks but everyone did their bit. Stockers

 

Magic moment was Grays's cross kick to air Brucie for the second try - simple fantastic - looked up , shaped to drop for goal stopping the Irish defence, turned and with pinpoint accuracy picked out Brucie on the right wing. Absolutely sublime. Barp

 

The second half saw some of the best play I have seen this season. We were unlucky not to get the bonus point.
Andrew Blowers was awesome, as ever; Bruce was superb. When Chris Budgen (the bludgen) came on his input was excellent. The whole side was re-vitalised.
It's always nice to win. There is something special about winning away from the Gardens. But winning today at the JetSki was, IMHO the biggest win of the saeson so far. Yes it was nice to beat the Tiggers home and away, but as far as this season's ZP goes todays game was paramount.
Good to hear that Rob Hunter is well, hope the same goes for JP. MT

 

I think the match turned on the Saints fast start to the second half. They didn't so much as take it by the scruff of the neck - more seized-it-by-the-throat-and-shook-it. I don't think we let the Irish have the ball in our half until 70 minutes were on the clock and the match was well-won. Our back row was immense in turning over ball and the midfield tackling was exemplary. Oddshapedball

 

Our Trev

 

Tevita propped really well and had his opposite number in great difficulty, pulling him down at nigh on every scrum. Daimon

 

like the look of Tevita - was always going forward Old Pete

 

Tevita looks a good boy in the loose as well. He got turned in at a very early scrum but it DIDN'T happen again. Tom gave a simply awesome display of scrummaging.  WMS

 

TT looks like a very useful scrummager.   Stockers

 

Re TT

It was really noticeable broonie. Every time the ball went dead he was watching the opposition so closely - always aware - perhaps he'd been warned of the cunning Irish and their habit of doing the unexpected. WMS

 

Defence

 

The defence in the second half when Irish were battering away at the line for minutes on end was just awesome. Stockers

 

Well done for getting back into it and taking the game away from Irish our defence on the line was great. Kingsleyb

 

And finally….

 

The rollercoaster goes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! St. Marlowes

 

 

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