A change of View from the East Stand

By Padwah
January 29 2013

I often contemplate during the team announcements what it takes to earn a place in London Irish folklore, such that Caimh will grace you with a nickname to reverberate around the Madejski. Whether it is something simple such as ‘Big’ for Bob Casey, something honourable as ‘Mr London Irish’ for Danaher or form related for the Try Machine – a persona held by Skivington following his brace last week and previously bestowed to Halani Aulika.

I wonder that as the players are going through their pre-match ritual whether what they hear has an impact on their performance.

The first points of the game were scored following a bit of indiscipline at the breakdown led to an easy three points; but rather than getting heads down and a bit of ‘here we go again’ there seemed to be something different about the 2013 model of London Irish. Breakdowns were being won; Phibbs was getting the ball quickly out of the ruck and the back line were moving when receiving the ball.

More importantly for Irish, Tom Homer has reached into the back of his shoe cupboard and found his kicking boots and promptly levelled the score following some wing-like work from our Samoan centre Tagicakibau. Tom, whose lack of fitness and form has meant the loss of his moniker of ‘Premiership Top Points Scorer’, looked fit and healthy and an air of confidence as he banged over his first points of the game.

With a desire to play some rugby firmly implanted into the back line and a few lucky bounces of the ball, breaking the game line was the order of the day. New Hooker Mayhew burst through the defence and a quick pick up from the ruck from Aulika and a burst of speed put him under the posts. A swan dive got all of 14 inches from the ground as the Tongan prop sought to reclaim his ‘Try Scoring Machine’ persona. Lessons from outside the game were being put into practice as the North Stand ball boys were nowhere to be seen causing Tom to jump into the seating to retrieve the ball himself – they must have feared some Eden Hazard effect should balls not be returned promptly. Tom, eager to get his haul of points up makes the conversion.

A functioning line-out, in a tribute to the days of ‘The Towers of Power’ a.k.a Nick and Bob, gave Aulika the chance to double his tally for the day and he duly obliged. Nickname restored to the Prop and more points for Homer.

Two tries up and the rugby was flowing; no tricks, no flashy moves, just good lines and great support. Shane Geraghty was wanting to repay the faith the Smith has shown in him and had the backs purring as the half time whistle approached. A grubber kick through sent Yarde – a player being touted for England – and he somehow managed to get it touched down in goal. Another day and that ball would have bounced out, but endeavour conquered and try time ensued. Tom missed the extra points but we will let him off one.

Half time discussions ensued – well following the habitual booing from the East Stand at our neighbours in the West as they pick up the half-time competition win. Steady start from our on-loan Hooker, some good back line work from our on-load Centre and some speedy distribution from our on-loan Scrum-half who had made the ‘hit of the half’.

Another great break from Pat Phibbs lead to a Worcester scrum but an infringement gave Tom an easy three. As with Irish in the first half, the penalty seemed to shake Worcester into life and, despite some resolute defending, Worcester found a gap and touched down, with Skivington heading for the bin. Whilst it was disappointing to see us concede, the green shoots of life are present in our defence. Ironically, our defence looks more organised since the departure of ‘World Class Defence Coach’ Sean Edwards and everyone seems to know what they are doing and disruption of the offence, supported by effective tackling kept Worcester pinned back for long periods. It’s not perfect yet, but it is getting better.

Worcester brought on ‘Pie Man’ Andy Goode and this seemed to get their back line going, but Irish had bonus-point ambitions. A great catch and drive put Alex Gray in the corner and a one point was assured. Homer obliged with the extra points.

Goode had Worcester moving the Irish defence around and Worcester played an innovative move that sent Caimh into a fit of confusion as the bench emptied and, with Irish distracted making sure that an extra player hadn’t been snuck on, Lemi somehow managed to dot the ball down for a try in the corner.

Another ‘Future England Player’ Yarde effort gave Irish some breathing room, before ‘Canadian’ Sinclair and ‘Actual Irishman’ Sandford – on for Skivington – decided to get a bit punchy with Worcester. A Swing & Miss from Sandford was met with a good clocking on the chin from the opposition player and a dip into the pocket for the Ref.

Worcester kept pushing for something from the game and a third try was almost inevitable as Percival took home five points.

As the safety announcement echoed out in the East Stand, Marland gave us a reason to stay to the final whistle as a kick and chase was somehow finished in the in-goal area. As with his first, the ball seemed to want to stay in play and allow him a hat-trick and a change for another two from Tom.

A quick escape from the stadium as the final whistle blew and pleasing results elsewhere put us at the top of the group and destiny in our hands.

Overall assessment: not too shabby! A continuation of the improvements seen over the last few weeks and a better game strategy. It is not the final product, but it is getting there and a continuation of the winning habit has to be priority one.

A few more performances like that and the team announcements will be taking that little longer.

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A change of View from the East Stand

Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)

Date: 29/01/2013 07:08

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