London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
By turniphead
August 15 2009
Friday night was a fantastic introduction to the 2009-10 season. Sunbury was packed to the gunnels with supporters looking for their fix after nearly 3 months without seeing the men in green play.
The Irish team was a mix of new faces and Academy players with some old hands getting a run out as well. The team as given before hand was:
15 Tom Homer; 14 Marcus Watson; 13 Jonathon Joseph; 12 James Lennard; 11 Adam Thompstone; 10 Ryan Lamb; 9 Alfredo Lalanne; 1 Dan Murphy; 2 James Buckland, 3 Paulica Ion; 4 Andy Perry; 5 Kieran Roche; 6 Jonathon Fisher; 7 Declan Danaher; 8 George Stowers
Replacements
16 Clarke Dermody; 17 Danie Coetzee; 18 Max Lahiff; 19 Gary Johnson; 20 Richard Thorpe; 21 Peter Richards; 22 Sam Edgerley, 23 Ben Stevenson; 24 Jamie Gibson; 25 Chris Hala’Ufia
There was team sheet handed out on the night but mine blew away under the seats never to be seen again so the above may not be totally accurate!
The game began inauspiciously enough with Ryan Lamb kicking deep to Welsh producing a solid return from Ed Lewis-Pratt (ex-LI) to give Irish a lineout on their own 10m line. After a little more aerial ping-pong between the two teams, Irish gave away a penalty at a ruck. Amazingly considering how central it was, Aled Thomas the Welsh 10 put it onto the post. Of the resulting rebound, the ball was knocked on by (I think) Declan Dahaner and was scooped up by an Irishman in front. A second penalty to Welsh and Thomas didn’t make the same mistake twice. 0-3 to our visitors.
The home response was swift; from the restart, Welsh found themselves offside at the resultant ruck. Lamb demonstrated Irish’s intent in this training run-out and banged the ball for a 5m lineout. Utilising the re-instatement of the maul, the forwards pushed on for the line to then release the ball out wide. Adam Thompstone cut a beautiful line of Jamie Lennard only to be brought down 5 metres short. The ball was quickly scooped up Freddie Lalanne passed on to Lamb who threw a beautifully weighted miss pass that floated out to Tom Homer to score in the corner. The conversion went wide from Lamb from out on the touchline. 5-3 to Irish.
The next big piece of action didn’t go the home side’s way. Welsh worked a lineout mid way into the Irish half. The home backline looked half asleep as the red runner seemingly sliced through them with ease with the future hero of the game, Jonathan Joseph missing a tackle on his opposite man to allow Neil Starling in for what turned out to be a simple try. Thomas pushed the conversion wide and the visitors were back in front 5-8.
Powerful run by stowers.
The game continued and eventually Irish began to dominate. First came a brilliant try from Thompstone. Irish worked an overlap on the right hand side with Joseph and Danaher combining beautifully to create even more space to allow Adam a run in from the Welsh 22. Lamb slotted the conversion. From the restart, the Welsh pressed hard to repeat their last visit to the Irish 22. This time however Lamb, as we’ve seen him do so many times in cherry and white, read the 10-12 channel and snaffled up the pass sprinting downfield. As he was being chased down a simple pass out to Marcus Watson saw the young wing crash over the line under the posts. With the extras added Irish now led 19-8.
The next try scored was the first of three for Joseph. Some lovely fluid play by Irish led to the centre going over under the posts. For this early on in the season some of the handling last night was fantastic. Lamb added a simple 2 points leaving the half time score at 26-8.
At half time, whilst waiting in the Four Provinces, I jotted down a quick reflection on the first 40 minutes. It simply read: “Halftime - some flashes of class but all in all needs tightening up. Welsh look dangerous on the ball but the out to in defence seems to be working well.” Unfortunately though, the wait at the bar took a little longer than anticipated and as I returned to the stand Thomas was putting three points over for Welsh. That penalty started bringing the visitors back into the game.
Yet another overthrow at the lineout from James Buckland allowed the Welsh back to continue to run but a knock on stopped them dead. Danie Coetzee came on for Buckland (the only substitution I managed to keep track off as the second half became a bit tricky with wholesale changes being made by both sides).
Joseph’s second try came from some more fluid rugby of the type we became accustomed to last term. A great break by Tom Homer from fullback finished with a little offload to Keiron Roche on the wing who then tossed the ball back inside to Joseph who was hastily dragged down 5 metres short. Realising they were all at sea, the Welsh forwards hit the ruck from every angle; penalty to Irish. With the lineout set, a simple worked move put Joseph in out wide leaving the score at 31-9.
At this point the game became a little fractured and my notes became a little sparser. What I can inform you of though was that the maul once again announced its return with Welsh scoring their second try of the nights from a 5m lineout. Also Irish seemed keen to work a rugby league style grubber through over the try line with both Lamb and Lennard attempting to set up their wingers but in both instances the ball ran on too far.
Joseph sealed his hatrick with a cracking solo effort. Collecting the ball on the half way line he set off on a beautiful run with had the crowd on their feet as he stepped outside the first defender, lined up the second and stepping him on the inside. With Lamb now off the pitch, Lennard added the two: 38-14 to Irish.
There was one more try in the match but it went to London Welsh who capitalised on some slightly dubious defence in the closing stages of the game. The game finished 38-21.
Overall this was a good run out. Highlights for me included seeing exactly why we have signed George Stowers. That man is huge and some of his hits on the charge were massive! Tom Homer looked very lively from fullback. I’m still keen to see him play at 13 though. Of the other new signings; Paulica Ion seemed to do a good job. The scrum never really looked under threat. There will no doubt be sterner tests ahead though. A similar verdict on Andy Perry. He was not as obvious around the park as Roche was but I’m sure we’ll see more from him. Ryan Lamb looked his mercurial self, his interception showing he’s still got the moves that originally made him a Kingsholm favourite. Finally Jamie Lennard looked assured and slotted in well to 10 when Lamb went off.
Apologies for the lengths of my ramblings. It was a great night out and well worth going to if you didn’t/couldn’t make it this year. Hopefully we will one day see A games being played at the Avenue before a move the Hazelwood to get more of these craicing evenings in Sunbury.
15 Tom Homer; 14 Marcus Watson; 13 Jonathon Joseph; 12 James Lennard; 11 Adam Thompstone; 10 Ryan Lamb; 9 Alfredo Lalanne; 1 Dan Murphy; 2 James Buckland, 3 Paulica Ion; 4 Andy Perry; 5 Kieran Roche; 6 Jonathon Fisher; 7 Declan Danaher; 8 George Stowers
Replacements
16 Clarke Dermody; 17 Danie Coetzee; 18 Max Lahiff; 19 Gary Johnson; 20 Richard Thorpe; 21 Peter Richards; 22 Sam Edgerley, 23 Ben Stevenson; 24 Jamie Gibson; 25 Chris Hala’Ufia
There was team sheet handed out on the night but mine blew away under the seats never to be seen again so the above may not be totally accurate!
The game began inauspiciously enough with Ryan Lamb kicking deep to Welsh producing a solid return from Ed Lewis-Pratt (ex-LI) to give Irish a lineout on their own 10m line. After a little more aerial ping-pong between the two teams, Irish gave away a penalty at a ruck. Amazingly considering how central it was, Aled Thomas the Welsh 10 put it onto the post. Of the resulting rebound, the ball was knocked on by (I think) Declan Dahaner and was scooped up by an Irishman in front. A second penalty to Welsh and Thomas didn’t make the same mistake twice. 0-3 to our visitors.
The home response was swift; from the restart, Welsh found themselves offside at the resultant ruck. Lamb demonstrated Irish’s intent in this training run-out and banged the ball for a 5m lineout. Utilising the re-instatement of the maul, the forwards pushed on for the line to then release the ball out wide. Adam Thompstone cut a beautiful line of Jamie Lennard only to be brought down 5 metres short. The ball was quickly scooped up Freddie Lalanne passed on to Lamb who threw a beautifully weighted miss pass that floated out to Tom Homer to score in the corner. The conversion went wide from Lamb from out on the touchline. 5-3 to Irish.
The next big piece of action didn’t go the home side’s way. Welsh worked a lineout mid way into the Irish half. The home backline looked half asleep as the red runner seemingly sliced through them with ease with the future hero of the game, Jonathan Joseph missing a tackle on his opposite man to allow Neil Starling in for what turned out to be a simple try. Thomas pushed the conversion wide and the visitors were back in front 5-8.
Powerful run by stowers.
The game continued and eventually Irish began to dominate. First came a brilliant try from Thompstone. Irish worked an overlap on the right hand side with Joseph and Danaher combining beautifully to create even more space to allow Adam a run in from the Welsh 22. Lamb slotted the conversion. From the restart, the Welsh pressed hard to repeat their last visit to the Irish 22. This time however Lamb, as we’ve seen him do so many times in cherry and white, read the 10-12 channel and snaffled up the pass sprinting downfield. As he was being chased down a simple pass out to Marcus Watson saw the young wing crash over the line under the posts. With the extras added Irish now led 19-8.
The next try scored was the first of three for Joseph. Some lovely fluid play by Irish led to the centre going over under the posts. For this early on in the season some of the handling last night was fantastic. Lamb added a simple 2 points leaving the half time score at 26-8.
At half time, whilst waiting in the Four Provinces, I jotted down a quick reflection on the first 40 minutes. It simply read: “Halftime - some flashes of class but all in all needs tightening up. Welsh look dangerous on the ball but the out to in defence seems to be working well.” Unfortunately though, the wait at the bar took a little longer than anticipated and as I returned to the stand Thomas was putting three points over for Welsh. That penalty started bringing the visitors back into the game.
Yet another overthrow at the lineout from James Buckland allowed the Welsh back to continue to run but a knock on stopped them dead. Danie Coetzee came on for Buckland (the only substitution I managed to keep track off as the second half became a bit tricky with wholesale changes being made by both sides).
Joseph’s second try came from some more fluid rugby of the type we became accustomed to last term. A great break by Tom Homer from fullback finished with a little offload to Keiron Roche on the wing who then tossed the ball back inside to Joseph who was hastily dragged down 5 metres short. Realising they were all at sea, the Welsh forwards hit the ruck from every angle; penalty to Irish. With the lineout set, a simple worked move put Joseph in out wide leaving the score at 31-9.
At this point the game became a little fractured and my notes became a little sparser. What I can inform you of though was that the maul once again announced its return with Welsh scoring their second try of the nights from a 5m lineout. Also Irish seemed keen to work a rugby league style grubber through over the try line with both Lamb and Lennard attempting to set up their wingers but in both instances the ball ran on too far.
Joseph sealed his hatrick with a cracking solo effort. Collecting the ball on the half way line he set off on a beautiful run with had the crowd on their feet as he stepped outside the first defender, lined up the second and stepping him on the inside. With Lamb now off the pitch, Lennard added the two: 38-14 to Irish.
There was one more try in the match but it went to London Welsh who capitalised on some slightly dubious defence in the closing stages of the game. The game finished 38-21.
Overall this was a good run out. Highlights for me included seeing exactly why we have signed George Stowers. That man is huge and some of his hits on the charge were massive! Tom Homer looked very lively from fullback. I’m still keen to see him play at 13 though. Of the other new signings; Paulica Ion seemed to do a good job. The scrum never really looked under threat. There will no doubt be sterner tests ahead though. A similar verdict on Andy Perry. He was not as obvious around the park as Roche was but I’m sure we’ll see more from him. Ryan Lamb looked his mercurial self, his interception showing he’s still got the moves that originally made him a Kingsholm favourite. Finally Jamie Lennard looked assured and slotted in well to 10 when Lamb went off.
Apologies for the lengths of my ramblings. It was a great night out and well worth going to if you didn’t/couldn’t make it this year. Hopefully we will one day see A games being played at the Avenue before a move the Hazelwood to get more of these craicing evenings in Sunbury.
London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 11:29
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Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: richfitz (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 12:49
Thanks for an excellent report, unable to go and looks like we missed a fun night.
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: Cider in Rosie (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 13:38
Great report - I couldn't keep up with all the replacements in the second half - I think Thorpe came on for Fisher at half time. I noticed the Welsh sub half their team in one go.
Had a great evening and looking forward to the season!!!
Had a great evening and looking forward to the season!!!
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: SirBurger (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 15:07
I thought Watson and Joseph both got 2, rather than 1 and 3 respectively...must have been mistaken!
A very good report, and a very good evening. Thanks a lot!
A very good report, and a very good evening. Thanks a lot!
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: Mark W-J (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 18:58
Have to say from a Welsh point of view that I thoroughly enjoyed my evening. The bloke behind the bar upstairs (is that the Four Provinces?) said that he'd been told to expect a crowd of 300, "500 tops". I reckon it must have been 1500+. He wasn't amused...
Apologies to the lady sitting next to me in the second row of the stand who had to identify all of the Irish players for me, and to the big Hagrid lookalike (with a pink bandana) whose feet I trampled over about half a dozen times on the way to and from the bar.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:15:19:00:54 by Mark W-J.
Apologies to the lady sitting next to me in the second row of the stand who had to identify all of the Irish players for me, and to the big Hagrid lookalike (with a pink bandana) whose feet I trampled over about half a dozen times on the way to and from the bar.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:08:15:19:00:54 by Mark W-J.
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: mulledwinemarie (IP Logged)
Date: 15/08/2009 20:40
HAGRID - ah that would be wee EEK...........
MWM
LONDON IRISH - and loving it......
LET'S GO IRISH....LET'S GO IRISH
...........
MWM
LONDON IRISH - and loving it......
LET'S GO IRISH....LET'S GO IRISH
...........
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: turniphead (IP Logged)
Date: 16/08/2009 15:51
Quote:SirBurger
I thought Watson and Joseph both got 2, rather than 1 and 3 respectively...must have been mistaken!
A very good report, and a very good evening. Thanks a lot!
You might be right there. I couldn't always see the shirt numbers and the stand was buzzing so much that the announcements got a little lost.
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: antoinog (IP Logged)
Date: 16/08/2009 21:52
Quote:mulledwinemarie
HAGRID - ah that would be wee EEK...........
Re: London Irish 38 - 21 London Welsh
Posted by: Clontarf (IP Logged)
Date: 17/08/2009 10:29
Great report, and thanks to the catering staff for attempting to feed the 5000. We didn't know we were that popular.
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