Brothers In Arms
By CreamCraicer
April 15 2010
After many evening kick-offs at Sixways in past seasons, as well as fog, it was great to enjoy a match against the Warriors in glorious sunshine. The weather also gave Irish the perfect conditions to play the expansive style which our club is now famous for, and they certainly did just that, all be it with a few errors tossed in here and there.
The Exiles attacked from the off, always looking to run the ball and move the Warriors defence all over the pitch. The early pressure was surely going to give Irish the first score of the match….wasn’t it? No. A clearance kick from Chris Latham bounced awkwardly (as our beloved egg tends to do)’ Rudd hesitated and stumbled, Worcester’s Samoan centre (copycats!) Rasmussen hacked the ball on and a the bounced favoured the centre as he collected, held off a tackle and offloaded to Groves who had the easiest of run-ins. Willie Walker converted to give the home-side a 7-0 lead.
This spurred the Warriors on and they heaped pressure on Irish after the score but an infringement gave Malone a shot at goal, which he put over to cut the lead to 4 points. The 7 point difference was soon restored when ill-discipline by Irish meant Walker had a penalty chance which he took advantage of to make the score 10-3.
A quick line-out and grubber kick from the departing Hewat piled pressure on the home-side in their own 22 which lead to the Warriors conceding a penalty. With half the squad waving on the far side of the pitch, Malone decided against a kick at goal and dispatched a cross-field kick which was gathered by the super-glue like hands of Delon who touched down left of the posts. Malone converted to bring the scores level.
Not to be outdone by his older, skinnier sibling, the 2010 try-machine that is Steffon Armitage continued his great scoring form as he drove over the line after pressure from an Irish scrum and breaks from Sheila and Elvis. Malone converted to land his 12th consecutive Premiership kick. At the break Irish had a, in my opinion, deserved 17-10 lead at half-time
Anyone who thought the 2nd half would turn into a rout after the Exiles strong finish to the 1st, were to be proven wrong. A stern Worcester defence as well as errors in attack from Irish restricted the scoring the 2nd half to 3 penalties, fortunately two of them were from the boot of Malone who finished the game with 13 points and 100% success rate with the boot. Irish dominated possession for the rest of the game and did make a few line-breaks but just couldn’t find that killer blow.
Full-time score: Worcester Warriors 13-23 London Irish
The win lifted us above the Pests with the same number of games played, but looking at the run-ins of the top-of-the-table sides I predict both Irish and Wasps to overtake Saffacens who have away games at Leicester and Northampton to come. .
This spurred the Warriors on and they heaped pressure on Irish after the score but an infringement gave Malone a shot at goal, which he put over to cut the lead to 4 points. The 7 point difference was soon restored when ill-discipline by Irish meant Walker had a penalty chance which he took advantage of to make the score 10-3.
A quick line-out and grubber kick from the departing Hewat piled pressure on the home-side in their own 22 which lead to the Warriors conceding a penalty. With half the squad waving on the far side of the pitch, Malone decided against a kick at goal and dispatched a cross-field kick which was gathered by the super-glue like hands of Delon who touched down left of the posts. Malone converted to bring the scores level.
Not to be outdone by his older, skinnier sibling, the 2010 try-machine that is Steffon Armitage continued his great scoring form as he drove over the line after pressure from an Irish scrum and breaks from Sheila and Elvis. Malone converted to land his 12th consecutive Premiership kick. At the break Irish had a, in my opinion, deserved 17-10 lead at half-time
Anyone who thought the 2nd half would turn into a rout after the Exiles strong finish to the 1st, were to be proven wrong. A stern Worcester defence as well as errors in attack from Irish restricted the scoring the 2nd half to 3 penalties, fortunately two of them were from the boot of Malone who finished the game with 13 points and 100% success rate with the boot. Irish dominated possession for the rest of the game and did make a few line-breaks but just couldn’t find that killer blow.
Full-time score: Worcester Warriors 13-23 London Irish
The win lifted us above the Pests with the same number of games played, but looking at the run-ins of the top-of-the-table sides I predict both Irish and Wasps to overtake Saffacens who have away games at Leicester and Northampton to come. .
Brothers In Arms
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 15/04/2010 21:30
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Re: Brothers In Arms
Posted by: MammyCraicer (IP Logged)
Date: 16/04/2010 11:07
I know I'm biased, but a very good match report!
Re: Brothers In Arms
Posted by: TheRealBigEasy (IP Logged)
Date: 16/04/2010 11:16
I thought you were MammyCraicer
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