Irish eyes are smiling…
By The Bard
February 10 2013
London Irish 29 Saracens 16 - First of all a disclaimer; any similarity between this report and events at the Mad Stad yesterday are entirely co-incidental, this is straight from the memory rather than a notepad!
After a 4 week break the Aviva Premiership started again, in what will be a challenging period for Sarries with a number of absentees. As well as losing the back-line to England, forwards Mako Vunipola and Kelly Brown will probably be away for the 6N duration.
Our cause was further hindered by the late withdrawals of Rhys Gill and Will Fraser, leaving us looking very vulnerable at Loosehead. The temptation to move John Smit or Matt Stevens across was resisted, leaving young Nick Auterac to start his first premiership game. Our other problem position, inside centre, was filled by the versatile Duncan Taylor. Ultimately it was to be both of these positions that accounted for the majority of the Irish points.
In contrast Irish were only missing the departing Corbisero and Joseph, and would undoubtedly on their mettle after Sale’s victory on Friday night. So it was never going to be a case of simply turning up and taking the points home as some might have expected.
The first half? Even the real Bard would have struggled to find words to make it sound entertaining, and I doubt whether many of the pancakes served up this week will be as flat as the fare on offer during the first forty. Sarries only managed 9 points thanks to 3 long range Hodgson penalties, with another narrowly missing. Our kick and chase game was nearly always thwarted by Stretts running into a wall of Irish defenders (me, Stretts and the coaching staff thought they were blockers, but the officials clearly didn’t). The Irish gameplan was odd in that the little chip throughs from Humphries generally caused panic; but the more frequent longer kicks were utterly aimless.
The Irish points mostly came from penalties against the Sarries loosehead, and we would have gone in behind had a close range kick from Homer not been ruled out although from right behind the posts it looked in.
Sarries needed a good start to the second half, but instead made a hash of it and soon found themselves defending a 5m lineout. Thankfully the Irish execution of the Quins lineout where Danny Care bursts through a gap in the line was not anything like as good, and we escaped. It was probably the only period in the second half where we were called on to defend in our 22, which is bizarre considering the final outcome.
After conceding another penalty, replacements came on in the shape of Brits and former London Irish favourite Nils Mordt taking over at 12 from the limping Taylor. He was even more popular with his former employers moments later, as his pass was gratefully intercepted by Shane Geraghty who trotted home un-opposed.
Finally Sarries roused themselves, and the ball got fed wide to Stretts as an Irish defender clattered into a nearby Sarrie and everyone waited for the crossing penalty. Apart from Stretts, who dotted down under the posts to a mild chorus of booing. The screen replay thankfully vindicated the officials decision.
Having got ourselves back in the game, we soon shot ourselves in the foot as a spilt ball in midfield found its way into the hand of Treviranus, who also looked to be the beneficiary of a block preventing Jackson Wray making a tackle. Again, the screen replay showed it was a fair try.
Sarries continued to have plenty of chances to get at least a bonus point, but used just about every trick in the book to mess it up. We had accidental offside, two forward passes, a missed penalty to touch and finally a lost lineout. In the midst of all that Tom Homer had banged over another penalty.
So a deserved win for irish, or more accurately a deserved defeat for Sarries. Missing was the intensity and composure we have come to expect, and massive improvements are needed if we are to remain in striking distance of the top come the end of the 6N period.
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Thanks goto the Bard for managing to write something about that performance!! We were there as guests of our London Irish friends, at least they had something to smile about. The Madstand has not been a happy hunting ground for Sarries over the years.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013:02:18:12:39:25 by sutton_sarrie.
I have never known a first half seem to last as long as that.
I cannot believe we can play as poorly again, but please, Sarries, don't try to prove me wrong!
Onward and, hopefully, upward to Allianz Park next Saturday!
It's a long time since Sports network paid anything!