Magic at the Madejski.

Orange in Flight
By Hax B. Tyke
April 19 2010

On a glorious sunny afternoon, Leeds Carnegie turned in their best performance for a long time as they fully deserved their 23 – 13 victory over their hosts London Irish, and it was fitting that, playing on a football pitch, three pieces of nifty footwork should play a big part in both of Leeds’ tries.

Thomas got the proceedings underway, and there was the usual flurry of dropped passes, and on three minutes Leeds were penalised for going in from the side, and Chris Malone put the hosts ahead. Irish should have extended there lead shortly after, but Malone pushed his long distance attempt wide. Two minutes later Leeds were level when Thomas converted a penalty from the 22, but the hosts were back ahead when Leeds were guilty of pushing in the line out, and this time the not nots fly half made no mistake.

Thomas again restored parity after 18 minutes, but either side of his kick Leeds wasted two gilt edged chances to score. Firstly, Lee Blackett, (what a game he had), broke free into the 22, but chose to go alone when he had support on his inside, and when he did get the ball back, it went to a green shirt.

Then Henry Fa’afili got away on the same flank, but he just lacked the pace to get to the line.

A poor up and under from Thomas, left Clark isolated, and when he was penalised, Irish went for the corner. The pressure was on, but the defence held firm, and eventually Leeds won a penalty to relieve the pressure. It got better on 32 minutes when Thomas popped over another penalty to give the visitors the lead for the first time, and it was to be a lead they never lost. Leeds were giving as good as they got, and they peppered the Irish full back with high kicks. This tactic paid huge dividends 5 minutes before the interval, when Thomas sent another towering kick into the Irish half. This time Mapusua was under it, but Rabeni’s crunching tackle made him spill the ball. Fourie was on it in a flash, and as he went to ground, he released the ball at ankle height. Burrell dribbled the ball forward, and then saw it bounce beautifully into his hands 20 yards from the line. He still had much to do, but despite the attentions of defenders, and the post, he stretched out and planted the ball over the whitewash. CT added the extras, and the magic was starting.

Shortly after Burrell was adjudged to have knocked on, even though the ball appeared to hit his knee, and from the next passage of play, Irish moved the ball quickly along the line, for Hewat to cross near the corner flag. Malone added a good conversion, and with the score at 13 – 16 to Leeds, the teams went in for their half time lemons.

Swainston was on for Gomez, at the beginning of the second half, and Leeds suffered a further blow when the ref stopped the game for Clark to receive urgent attention to an injury. Fortunately, Calum was able to walk from the field, to be replaced by another hero, Tom Denton. Leeds were attacking, and in another good move, Rabeni put a telling grubber kick to the corner to give the visitors a good attacking platform, but after failing to breach the green line, despite good work by Fourie and Denton, Thomas made a poor attempt at a drop goal which was both short and wide.

Goodridge did well to gather a kick through, and Burrell ripped the ball out of Hewat’s hands as Irish worked up a head of steam. Oakley replaced To’oala and drove forward, but play was edging even closer to the Leeds line.

20 minutes to go, and Irish elected to go for touch instead of taking the easy 3 points on offer, and for the next TEN minutes, Leeds were subject to more pressure than I have seen in any game this season. The Irish pack got over the line, but Leeds held them up, the hosts were picking and driving, they were on the line, but they couldn’t get across as the white line repelled them time after time. Eventually they slung the ball wide for Rudd to go for the corner, try, no Goodridge appears from nowhere to take him into the corner flag, and the Leeds team slap him on the back for his efforts.

The next couple of minutes were worrying. Wayne Barnes reset a scrum 3 times, 10 metres from our line, and then pulled Swainston out for a talking to. Luckily no harm was done. Irish won the scrum, but Fourie again was in pinching the ball to give a bit of respite. Leeds cleared to halfway, but back it came again.

The pressure was relentless, and a try was inevitable. The fact that it came 90 metres downfield, and it was a white shirt that scored it defied belief. Irish threw the ball wide, but Lee Blackett intercepted almost on his own line, and set off down the wing. The cover was coming across; Lee stepped inside then went out again. 30 metres to go, he was about to be tackled, but he sent a wonderfully weighted kick infield, and there was Jon Goodridge, niftily dribbling the ball forward for it to sit up into his arms and dive over for the clinching try. Thomas converted, (his kicking throughout the afternoon was of a very high standard), and there was no containing the joy of the small band of fans sitting in the East stand., Gomez returned to replace Swainston, Hardy came on for MacDonald, and Nilsen replaced another giant when Titterell went off.

The stuffing had been knocked out of the Irish, and the last few minutes were relatively comfortable with play between the Leeds 22 and halfway. With a minute to go, Leeds won a penalty which went to touch, and from the resulting play, the fans counted the clock down as Leeds controlled a ruck. Burrell was behind it to deliver the final pass to Thomas who joyfully sent the egg into the stand.

A great win, and fully deserved. It was a good game to watch, exciting, but nerve wracking as well. Every player who stepped on the field was a hero yesterday. We know what our pack can do, but I’m going to pick out three of our backs for special mention. Lee Blackett typifies everything Leeds do, and he was everywhere yesterday, how he kept his cool to deliver that cross field kick I don’t know. Then, Luther Burrell. Not played for weeks but slotted in seamlessly. He defended superbly, his support play was good, and he took his try very well. My Man of the Match Award though, goes to Jon Goodridge for the two moments that won us the game. Firstly the tackle on Rudd in the corner saved a try that would have given Irish the lead. Then his support play and football skills that led to his try.

Hope our small band of fans returned home safely, thanks to our hosts for their hospitality, and roll on next Sunday. I can’t wait….

Magic at the Madejski.

Posted by: TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 19/04/2010 12:12

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