Munster v London Irish
By Sam_r43
August 24 2009
As we were getting the ferry across from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire on the morning of the game we were all hoping that the seas were calm so that the drive across Ireland was quick and we could get to the game on time (of course getting to the game on time means before the players arrive). Fortunately all went well and we arrived at the game on time to see the players come in.
Standing in the south stand with a flag and a bodhran and me equipped with my camera, we saw the players warming up and tried to attract any other Irish supporters in the south stand towards us. Unfortunately attempts to create a green section failed and it was just the R43’s. The weather was fine and sunny despite messages from the Munster message board.
The squad was as announced except for Alex who wasn’t there, even though Dan said he saw him but meant the kit boy Alex and Delon was captaining the side for the first time. So as the players ran out onto the pitch in their nice white shirts and green shorts (looks like not all the kit has arrived yet) I played the bodhran and with just the four of us shouting it was rather ineffective. From the kick-off it appeared that Munster were on top and started well with a try by their forwards which was eventually given by the referee. We then came back with a good couple of penalties from Ryan and we started to get a bit more possession but couldn’t seem to get going forwards, just side to side and backwards. Munster, who had quick hands and were drawing our players in creating lots of space for them out wide, scored another try, 14 - 6.
Just over 30 minutes in Tom went off after making a good tackle, hurting his shoulder. Jamie came on and went to full back and Delon to centre, Tom appeared to be fine after the game. The scrum seemed to be going ok except for a couple of crooked feeds given by Alan Lewis which was more than I saw all of last season. Before half time an incident down the other end of the field resulted in Chris getting a yellow card for punching, according to a Munster fan behind us. So with about 10 minutes to go in the half that gave Munster another try leaving us 21 – 6 behind, looking rather bleak as we couldn’t get going forward while Munster were running away with it.
For the second half LKR has tried to record the substitutions on her phone but for more detail you may need to see Paddy’s report. So at half time Dec, Clarke, Dodge, Nick, James and Jon Fisher came on for Richard, Dan, Pete, Kieran, David and Steffon.
The second half kicks off and eventually George comes on for Chris after the sin bin period is over. With play coming towards us we seemed to get going forwards better and Steffon was doing his usual work at the breakdown and creating lots of turnovers, and the scrum and the line-out were working well. We were the first to score in the second half as Steffon made a brilliant run pushing through players, eventually needing to be brought to the ground by 4 players, so quick ball away out to our left meant that Tagi had a walk over for a try in front of us (which I got a photo of).
Then some rugby was played (this report is being done entirely from memory so it is a bit sketchy). LKR next says Steffon comes back on but we haven’t got him going off so rolling substitutions means that lots of replacements took place so your guess is as good as ours. After another period of good attacking play we got into the 22 only for a stray pass back to Jamie to put us on the back foot. A snap second decision by Jamie to take the drop goal worked out beautifully as it sailed over the posts bring it back to 21 – 16 (I think). More rugby was played and LKR claims that she said we needed a bigger centre in this game and we should try Steffon just before Charlie came off for Steffon at centre while Marcus also came on for Tagi. A few minutes after this Dan came on for Paulica.
After a while George rumbled over the line from a good Irish MAUL to score a try, possibly (But I have a photo which may prove it either way, if we scored the photo will be posted if we haven’t the photo will be destroyed). The try was given, the stupid maul ELV had gone and all was going well 21 – 23 with not long left to go. At this point in the writing the report we realised that we never took the lead so before we scored, at some point in the 2nd half you need to add the text where you wish “Munster then managed to cross the line for another try bringing the score to 28 – 16.”
With 5 minutes to go Pete came on for Adam and Dec came on for a London Irish player. We then gave away a penalty inside our half quite a way out to the left which Paul Warwick (nearly of London Irish) calmly kicked and put Munster 31 – 23 ahead. With 1 minute to go LKR says we brought on Jonathan for Felon (I think she meant Delon but predictive text isn’t very helpful during high speed rugby). The ball ended up going off the pitch (detailed reporting) and Alan Lewis blew for full time, we lost with what I think is a respectable 31 – 23.
After the game we waited around to speak to the players and came across the Charlie Gower fan club, consisting of a bunch of girls supporting Munster looking for “the number 12” all dying to see him which he dealt with very well and signed tons and tons of paper before escaping. We then had a nice conversation with George where we discovered he can also play at 6, so making a possible back row of Chris, George and Steffon.
So here is a quick summary of the game from each member of the family, DanR43 “If you could count Warwick’s points for Irish we would have won.” JonR43 found it hard to come up with a sentence but we will let him off as he has driven us everywhere but eventually said “We started too slowly but not bad with all the players missing”. LKR said “I like pre-seasons because they don’t really matter but there were some good positives to take into the season.” And I thought it was a very good performance with the forwards seeming to dominating the lineout and the scrum and am very much looking forward to the game in Dublin on Friday (although I am also very much looking forward to GCSE results on Thursday which I am flying from Dublin to Heathrow and back again the same day). Finally my vote for man of the match goes to Steffon.
Come On You Irish!!!
The squad was as announced except for Alex who wasn’t there, even though Dan said he saw him but meant the kit boy Alex and Delon was captaining the side for the first time. So as the players ran out onto the pitch in their nice white shirts and green shorts (looks like not all the kit has arrived yet) I played the bodhran and with just the four of us shouting it was rather ineffective. From the kick-off it appeared that Munster were on top and started well with a try by their forwards which was eventually given by the referee. We then came back with a good couple of penalties from Ryan and we started to get a bit more possession but couldn’t seem to get going forwards, just side to side and backwards. Munster, who had quick hands and were drawing our players in creating lots of space for them out wide, scored another try, 14 - 6.
Just over 30 minutes in Tom went off after making a good tackle, hurting his shoulder. Jamie came on and went to full back and Delon to centre, Tom appeared to be fine after the game. The scrum seemed to be going ok except for a couple of crooked feeds given by Alan Lewis which was more than I saw all of last season. Before half time an incident down the other end of the field resulted in Chris getting a yellow card for punching, according to a Munster fan behind us. So with about 10 minutes to go in the half that gave Munster another try leaving us 21 – 6 behind, looking rather bleak as we couldn’t get going forward while Munster were running away with it.
For the second half LKR has tried to record the substitutions on her phone but for more detail you may need to see Paddy’s report. So at half time Dec, Clarke, Dodge, Nick, James and Jon Fisher came on for Richard, Dan, Pete, Kieran, David and Steffon.
The second half kicks off and eventually George comes on for Chris after the sin bin period is over. With play coming towards us we seemed to get going forwards better and Steffon was doing his usual work at the breakdown and creating lots of turnovers, and the scrum and the line-out were working well. We were the first to score in the second half as Steffon made a brilliant run pushing through players, eventually needing to be brought to the ground by 4 players, so quick ball away out to our left meant that Tagi had a walk over for a try in front of us (which I got a photo of).
Then some rugby was played (this report is being done entirely from memory so it is a bit sketchy). LKR next says Steffon comes back on but we haven’t got him going off so rolling substitutions means that lots of replacements took place so your guess is as good as ours. After another period of good attacking play we got into the 22 only for a stray pass back to Jamie to put us on the back foot. A snap second decision by Jamie to take the drop goal worked out beautifully as it sailed over the posts bring it back to 21 – 16 (I think). More rugby was played and LKR claims that she said we needed a bigger centre in this game and we should try Steffon just before Charlie came off for Steffon at centre while Marcus also came on for Tagi. A few minutes after this Dan came on for Paulica.
After a while George rumbled over the line from a good Irish MAUL to score a try, possibly (But I have a photo which may prove it either way, if we scored the photo will be posted if we haven’t the photo will be destroyed). The try was given, the stupid maul ELV had gone and all was going well 21 – 23 with not long left to go. At this point in the writing the report we realised that we never took the lead so before we scored, at some point in the 2nd half you need to add the text where you wish “Munster then managed to cross the line for another try bringing the score to 28 – 16.”
With 5 minutes to go Pete came on for Adam and Dec came on for a London Irish player. We then gave away a penalty inside our half quite a way out to the left which Paul Warwick (nearly of London Irish) calmly kicked and put Munster 31 – 23 ahead. With 1 minute to go LKR says we brought on Jonathan for Felon (I think she meant Delon but predictive text isn’t very helpful during high speed rugby). The ball ended up going off the pitch (detailed reporting) and Alan Lewis blew for full time, we lost with what I think is a respectable 31 – 23.
After the game we waited around to speak to the players and came across the Charlie Gower fan club, consisting of a bunch of girls supporting Munster looking for “the number 12” all dying to see him which he dealt with very well and signed tons and tons of paper before escaping. We then had a nice conversation with George where we discovered he can also play at 6, so making a possible back row of Chris, George and Steffon.
So here is a quick summary of the game from each member of the family, DanR43 “If you could count Warwick’s points for Irish we would have won.” JonR43 found it hard to come up with a sentence but we will let him off as he has driven us everywhere but eventually said “We started too slowly but not bad with all the players missing”. LKR said “I like pre-seasons because they don’t really matter but there were some good positives to take into the season.” And I thought it was a very good performance with the forwards seeming to dominating the lineout and the scrum and am very much looking forward to the game in Dublin on Friday (although I am also very much looking forward to GCSE results on Thursday which I am flying from Dublin to Heathrow and back again the same day). Finally my vote for man of the match goes to Steffon.
Come On You Irish!!!
Munster v London Irish
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 24/08/2009 16:10
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Re: Munster v London Irish
Posted by: b.q.f.m (IP Logged)
Date: 24/08/2009 19:48
A very good report Sam.
Hope the GCSE results are equally good!
Hope the GCSE results are equally good!
Re: Munster v London Irish
Posted by: Schumey (IP Logged)
Date: 25/08/2009 08:02
Great report Sam.
Good luck with your exam results and enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Good luck with your exam results and enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Re: Munster v London Irish
Posted by: waltham (IP Logged)
Date: 25/08/2009 09:56
Yup - great report. Mrs W was especially pleased to see that Charlie Gower has developed a fan club..See y'all all in Dublin.
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