Three tries but no points in Reading

The Falcons stood up well to London Irish for much of yesterday’s LV= Cup match, but eventually succumbed to a 39-23 defeat.

Both teams picked mixed sides, Alan Tait moving Jeremy Manning to fly-half and Jamie Helleur partnering Luke Eves in the centre. Irish saw the return of Delon Armitage from the World Cup and Ross Samson and Shontayne Hape made their Stadium of Madness bows.

Irish began on the attack but it was the Falcons who were almost first on the scoresheet, Eves powering down the right and reaching over the line to put the ball down despite being tackled. At least that’s how it looked to me, the referee ran around to the other side of the pile of bodies and decided the ball had been knocked on.

The first try finally came after a quarter hour thanks to Jamie Helleur out on the same flank. Manning’s conversion flew just to the side of the swaying posts. Irish went into the lead though a few minutes later when Steve Shingler converted Adam Thompstone’s try.

Manning kicked a penalty but three kicks from Shingler gave Irish a 16-8 lead at half-time, an unjust scoreline after the Falcons had put in a strong performance in an intriguing first half.

In the second half Manning drilled a snap drop-goal attempt off the angle of crossbar and post, but Greg Goosen found a gap between the last two defenders for our second try. Manning converted and then scored a penalty to return the Falcons to the lead.

It only lasted a couple of minutes though before Shingler knocked over another penalty. Armitage then scored down the right at the end of a flowing move to the delight of the subdued Reading crowd.

A drop-goal extended Irish’s lead, and from a 60-metre break by Jamie Gibson replacement Daniel Bowden went over in the middle of the field. Thompstone secured a bonus point for the hosts with a few minutes left.

Joe Graham scored a consolation try once the clock had hit zero, but Hodgson’s conversion missed.

With Scarlets getting another bonus point victory yesterday, it will now be difficult to get through to the semi-finals of this cup again, I guess we’ll need t beat Sale and Leicester and then for the Welsh side and probably Harlequins to lose at least one game. Still, the upcoming Premiership games are far more important.