London Irish 37 - 20 Northampton Saints

London Irish versus Northampton on a cold January afternoon in the LV Cup. With both sides missing many of their galacticos, and with qualification looking almost impossible for either team, this fixture hardly had the makings of a classic.

And yet, in the grand scheme of things it was a game of huge significance for both clubs. London Irish have endured a miserable middle spell in their season. With ten defeats on the bounce January and February are all about rebuilding momentum for the Berkshire boys. Northampton on the other hand are flying high. Finishing the group stages of the Heineken Cup as top seeds, and cruising along nicely in the Premiership, their position is somewhat different to that of Irish. Yet, in order to fight on two fronts a strong squad is crucial. Leicester have proven this in the past, managing to win titles both domestically and in Europe, whilst missing players through injury. Although, in the eyes of most Saints fans, Big Jim has done little wrong this season, his refusal to rotate his squad has caused consternation. This LV Cup clash would therefore go some way to informing both Saints fans and the neutral just how much mileage there is in this Northampton team.

It was Northampton who started the better, carrying their European momentum into this clash. Within two minutes however, Ford lost patience with the driving play of his forwards and pulled the trigger with a dropped goal attempt. Unsuccessful, Ford was clearly put off trying his luck at goal from a penalty a minute later. The Saints, under the captaincy of Calum Clark, kicked the ball into touch and attempted to drive Irish over their line. Despite an initial indent into the Irish defence, the Exiles held firm, and it was the powerful Chris Hala'Ufia who had the biggest impact in repelling the Saints' drives. Eventually, Irish were able to force the turn-over and won the penalty. Unfortunately, however, in a moment which was typical of much of what has been wrong with London Irish this season, Daniel Bowden failed to find touch with the kick. The most exciting, and indeed enjoyable, aspect of this early spell was Ryan Lamb's kick into Northampton's left hand corner. To see Adam Thompstone, recently back from injury, hurling after the ball at full pace was a joy to behold. And, presumably, for the Northampton back three who had to react to his chase, quite frightening. Whilst the dominance of play seemed to ebb and flow in these early minutes, it was Irish who took the lead, with Ion and Murphy exerting pressure at scrum time. Lamb, from the resulting penalty, slotted the ball cooly between the posts. 3-0 Irish.

Northampton responded well, however, and despite some powerful drives from Hala'Ufia, sloppy play in the midfield allowed the Saints to turn the ball over. With ball in hand the Saints looked dangerous, most notably Greig Tonks at full back who posed quite a threat. In spite of some big hits in the middle of the park from the likes of Hala'Ufia, Bowden and even Ryan Lamb, the Saints won a penalty due to hands on the floor at the ruck from Steffon Armitage. Ford made up for his earlier errors and levelled the scores on nineteen minutes.

In another kicking error, Lamb put the ball straight out from the following kick-off. The less said about these sorts of mistakes the better. They have marred Irish's play all season and represent the difference between the sides who win trophies and those who don't. Despite this Irish did manage to win the ball back and broke back upfield thanks to some strong running from Tagicakibau, Armitage and Gibson. Alongside them, Dan Bowden seemed to be getting a lot of ball at inside centre and was cutting some fine angles. Another powerful burst by Jamie Gibson carried Irish deep into the Saints' 22 and an infringement by Northampton allowed Lamb to put Irish into the lead once again.

Receiving the following kick-off, Topsy Ojo propelled Irish straight back into the Northampton half with a precise kick, and as a result of an inaccurate throw by the Northampton Hooker Brett Sharman, Tagicakibau and Gibson once again drove the Exiles deep into the Saints' territory. Eventually, after almost exactly half an hour of play, Brian Blaney, the Irish Hooker, drove over in the left hand corner to get his first try for the club.

Whilst Irish had managed to look threatening for large chunks of the first period of play, their attack seemed to stagnate after the first try and they began to look slow and predictable in the middle of the park. Northampton, quick to punish this, turned Irish over at a scrum, and won a penalty. 11-6 to Irish.

The reaction was, however, superb from London Irish and right on the stroke of half-time, and following a fine break off the maul by Blaney, Irish carried themselves into the 22 of Northampton. Spreading the ball from left to right, they were playing with a verve that has avoided them for much of the season. It was the turn of Armitage to be craftsman as his perfectly weighted miss-pass sent Blaney in for his second try of the game. It was a piece of skill that the likes of Moody, Robshaw and Fourie; those ahead of him in the pecking order for England, would have struggled to pull off. England's loss...

After the usual frivolities of half time, Irish needed to push for the Bonus Point. Whilst chances of qualification for the next round appeared slim, the momentum which a four try victory would help to create would be of the utmost importance. Ojo provided the early impetus to help bring this about, breaking from his 22 deep into Northampton territory. Ojo, who looked lively throughout the game, was, however, more impressive for the solidity which he showed under the high ball, as well as his efforts with the boot. Whilst an LV Cup does not quite match up to the intensity of a Premiership game, he gave every indication here that he can fill the boots of Delon Armitage.

In spite of this Irish began to become loose with ball in hand, and Hala'Ufia in particular was guilty of forcing the offload on occasions. Irish were punished for this with Northampton exerting pressure of their own. Following a yellow card for Brian Blaney Northampton were able to cross the whitewash to bring the scores to 18-13. Following this Stowers replaced Hala'Ufia.

The impact of the big Samoan number 8 was immediate, as he combined with Allinson and Mapusua to drive Irish into the heart of Northampton territory. After several failed attempts to get over the line, it was Stowers who carried himself over. Lamb converted to make the scores 25-13.

The next stage of the game was marked by a host of substitutions as Max Lahiff, Alfredo Lalanne and Will Johnson, making his debut, all entered the fray. It was, however, the Samoan players, Stowers and Mapusua who were causing the most problems for Northampton, managing to constantly break tackles and make offloads. Whilst Gibson did his best to butcher an overlap, the young Oxford student showed all his quick-thinking to recover the dropped ball and keep the possession with Irish. As a result of this Irish won a penalty, and from the line-out Steffon Armitage used his low centre of gravity to slide through the Saints' defence and grab the bonus point for London Irish. With the scores at 30-13 Irish could afford to make further changes and Kieron Low and Elvis Seveal'i came on for Kennedy and Mapusua.

Despite some good carrying from Tagicakibau and Kieran Roche in particular, Irish failed to do much with the ball that they were being provided with. On 70 minutes, Thorpe and Herring entered proceedings to replace Gibson and Blaney, both of who had fine games, and this seemed to spark Irish back into life. Seveali'i made a fine break and Tagicakibau and Ojo ensured that Irish drove further into the Saints' heartland. On 73 minutes Irish's willingness to run the ball from deep was rewarded as Lamb made a clever half-break and flicked the ball out the back to the ever-present George Stowers. Stowers, realising he did not have the pace to reach the line through a nice pass to Bowden, who had cut a fine line himself, to touch down next to the posts. This brought the score to 37-13 and added some gloss to a fine Irish performance. Despite further efforts by Ojo to keep the ball in Northampton's half, it was the Saints who had the last say of the game with winger Scott Armstong crashing through an alarmingly high number of tackles to finish the game at 37-20.

How much was learned from this encounter? It is difficult to say. London Irish's 1st and a half XV are clearly better than Northampton's 2nd XV. But that was almost to be expected. Northampton are clearly some way off having the squad to rotate at will, and in this respect perhaps Big Jim has judged things right. However, the likes of Tonks and Armstrong are clearly going to be keeping Foden and Ashton on their toes over the coming years. For Irish this was a positive step. There were too many mistakes for Toby Booth and Mike Catt to be entirely satisfied, but there were signs, in the willingness to run from deep, and in the elusiveness of Ojo and Tagicakibau that the Irish of old may be about to return.