Irish See Red

My first away match of the season and I arrived in a buoyant mood courtesy of the ease of parking and free burger provided by Land Rover. And then it went downhill.

Despite a solid enough start and a penalty from a collapsed scrum (a facet of the game that J.P Doyle never managed to get under control), there were few causes for optimism. Our kicking from hand looked aimless and while Gordon Ross was able to shoot Welsh into an early 3-0 lead, Ian Humphreys was unable to return the favour at the other end. Again, this was to be a trend that continued throughout the game: Ross, generally, being deadly accurate with the boot, Irish’s kickers slightly off key.

Ten minutes in though and despite the score still only 3-0 the game seemed to be over as a contest. Seb Jewell, on for the injured Hudson Tonga’Uiha, had the misfortune of being clattered by a huge tackle from Chris Hala’Ufia. The debate over the legitimacy of the tackle and of the red card I am sure will continue. All that needs to be said on my part is that until the Premiership has video refs at every game then the contest is not a fair one.

Despite the numerical implications that the loss of Hala’Ufia clearly had, Irish dug in and battled valiantly. Sadly the precision often struggled to match the desire that the Exiles, led by Danaher, Evans, Garvey and Geraghty, clearly displayed. Ross, who had added the three from the sending off incident, soon added another and Irish were 9-0 behind. Irish did manage to get themselves in the game though after some good work from Bryn Evans at the line-out. Homer sent over a penalty and the scoreboard stood at 9-3. A period of Welsh pressure followed this, with a series of five metre scrums for the ‘other’ Exiles. Good pressure at the base from Allinson and Danaher, who scrapped for everything all game long, managed to win Irish a well deserved turnover after some ferocious defending. Some good work by Geraghty and Humphreys from the resulting turnover sent Irish down the pitch and forced another penalty. 9-6 to Welsh, with Humphreys this time sending over the kick. Unfortunately, a clumsy offside call, with the ball bobbling off Matt Garvey allowed Welsh to win a penalty and go in at half time with a 12-6 lead, although Homer missed another opportunity to close the gap to three just before the interval. All things considered, it could have been worse.

And then it got worse. Matt Garvey yellow carded for tripping a player. It looked a clumsy, but probably accidental challenge to me. As if playing with 14 players wasn’t bad enough, Irish now had an extra ten with 13. Yet, in spite of this, and courtesy of some excellent work at the breakdown from Danaher, Aulika (on at half time for Halavatau) and a host of unlikely sources, Irish won two penalties during the Garvey-less period. Unfortunately, Ian Humphreys missed both of his efforts. However, despite being down to 13 players, Irish had clearly been the better side. Special mention must go to George Skivington who was harrying the Welsh scrum half at every ruck and making himself a real nuisance.

Irish, who until this point had been extremely unlucky, rode their own luck shortly before Garvey’s return to the pitch as the Welsh scrum half Tyson Keats managed to drop the ball over the line in the process of grounding. A huge let-off for Irish, but perhaps an overdue one. Reinforcements to the Irish pack in the form of Yanuyanutawa and Kieron Low added fresh impetus and helped to compensate for the man defecit. However, Welsh extended their lead via the boot of the deadly accurate Gordon Ross once again, to make the score 15-6. Homer, was to respond to this by missing one of his own, before eventually getting one to narrow the margin again.

It really had been a dire game until this point (and probably a rather dire report to read!) but somehow Irish sprung into life. The forwards started driving with intent, Geraghty was fizzing passes and then Tagicakibau made one of his breaks of old, carrying Irish deep into Welsh territory. Sonny Parker offended and suddenly, for the last ten minutes of the game, Welsh were also down to 14 players. Irish kicked to the corner and looked to capitalis on what must have felt like a numerical advantage at this point. Aulika and Yanuyanutawa drove close to the line, with the impressive carrying of Gerard Ellis also coming to the fore. Irish kept nudging forward and it looked like a try was certain. Suddenly, Jack Moates, who had looked impressive on for Allinson, lost control at the base of the ruck, the ball bobbled out and Geraghty was forced into kicking for Homer in the corner. It was more out of hope than a structured move, but it still almost worked. Sadly, it didn’t. Welsh won the resulting line-out and cleared. In this moment the game was gone. Irish got close again, with Shingler kicking the ball back into Welsh territory, but sadly could not breach the line.

A dispiriting end to a match that could be of consequence come the end of the season. I was impressed by the effort that the players showed, in particular the forwards, as well as our centre pairing of Geraghty and Tagicakibau, that has received some criticism, especially for their defence up until this point. Both defended stoutly. In the forwards, Danaher and Garvey dug very deep to keep Irish in the game. From where I was sitting, it even looked like both won opposition line-outs; a facet of the game neither is especially renowned for. There has to be a sense of injustice at some of the decisions of Mr Doyle: several Welsh tackles were certainly worthy of yellow cards in the context of Hala’Ufia’s sending off. However, he should not get the blame for the failure of the Premiership as a system to ensure that video referees are present at every single game. Hopefully, Mr Smith can use the injustice that occurred to spur the players on in the coming weeks. However, it should not be used as an excuse. They can be proud of their efforts, but ultimately the game was still there to be won. Welsh looked ragged and frankly, quite poor. Irish left 15 points on the pitch via missed kicks. The line-out, once again, failed to function. A heroic victory instead manifested itself as an admirable defeat. It was a big ask of a team shot of confidence, but eventually the results simply have to come. Until then, all we can do is get behind the team and give the players the support that their efforts deserve. On Saturday they really gave it everything.