Falcons v Irish Preview - Part 2

By Tightheed (on 02/11/02)
November 3 2002

As usual Rob Andrew has delayed naming his actual side until Sunday choosing instead to name a squad. Interestingly the squad announced does not include Shaw, Issacson or Thompson. So what does this mean for Sunday's game?

For me the most interesting of the 3 is Matt Thompson. Thumper Jnr has been back up hooker to Steve Brotherstone all season and would have taken a major part in this game as Steve is in the Scotland squad for next weekend. Does this mean that Nick Makin gets a chance to take his place in the middle of the front row? Only time will tell.

I will stick with my original team prediction of Peel, Brotherstone, Hurter, Hamilton, Grimes, Dunbar, Arnold, Vyvyan, Charlton, Stephenson, Godman, Wilkinson, May, Noon, and Botham. London Irish have named their side as:

15. Michael Horak
14. Paul Sackey
13. Nick Burrows
12. Brendan Venter
11. Justin Bishop
10. Barry Everitt
9. Darren Edwards
1. Mike Worsley
2. Naka Drotske
3. Simon Halford
4. Ryan Strudwick (Captain)
5. Nick Kennedy
6. Paul Gustard
7. Kieron Dawson
8. Chris Sheasby

I see the key battles being between the back rows with Dawson and Sheasbey giving Vyvyan and Arnie a run for their money and the lineout where Grimesy and Stretch should give Strudwick and the new lad Kennedy a hard time.

In the backs Venter is always a key ball carrier but I can see Jonny at 12 knocking him down time and time again. Epi to come off the bench as they may have too much gas for him all game.

On paper the backlines look even however I think if Jonny can get the tactics correct and we can defend well then we have the talent and power to beat them. Sackey and Bishop both have bags of pace so Noon and Stevo will have to be on top of the game from the start.

If the pack performs as well as last week and the backs put as much effort into defence as attack then I think we can come out with 5 points

Prediction: Falcons 29 Irish 13