Gloucester Match Report

 The  30th November and the glaze of the new season start has gone, summer signings have bedded in and London Irish’s new home at Hazlewood is officially open.

Despite this though Irish are certainly not where they intended to be, being just one place above the drop this position was unlikely to be in the script, especially the rather one sided affair at Sale two weeks ago. Additionally since this return to the Premiership action Irish are without a win and without a premiership home win at all this season. So as we approached this game, the last in this premiership block an unexpected level of importance seemed to be placed on this fixture against Gloucester especially if Irish want to kick on with the European double header against Cardiff.

To be honest the first half was somewhat pointless ending in 3-0 to Gloucester, a lot of time was spent going back and forward between the two teams 22’s. Five minutes in and a clever kick through from Gloucester risked a try however if it wasn’t for 1) the touchline and/or 2) Tom Homer’s cover then Irish’s try line was beckoning Gloucester, however the ensuing lineout was successfully handled by Irish and the pressure was relieved. Irish also had a period of pressure around the ten minute mark which resulted in a penalty within the 22, for handling a player in the lineout in the air and the decision was made for a kick to touch which resulted in a turnover scrum due to an accidental offside. This then led to approximately five minutes of continued scrum resets or small passages of play followed by a scrum. At the end of it all Irish were penalised for some kind of scrum offence and Gloucester were let off the hook.

Gloucester looked dangerous again at the 23 minute mark with a neat up and under from their winger as Homer had joined the defensive line. The remaining Irish defender allowed the ball to bounce which created a defensive nightmare which was eventually dealt with by Irish running the ball into touch just 5 or so metres away from their own try line. Gloucester threatened with the resulting lineout as they produced a driving maul which actually got Hibbard over the white wash however a number of Irish bodies held him up preventing the score.  The first points of the game came five minutes from half time following Blair Cowan dragging down a rolling maul. The half finished with Geraghty attempting a penalty from within the Irish half which didn’t quite make the distance and was kicked out of the field of play.

Despite the poor first half there were a few things I noted. Firstly Irish’s exit play often it seemed slow or overly risky with not much gained. Other than that I was impressed by the Irish defence and the lack of penalties given to Gloucester in the Irish red zone. This meant that both teams cancelled each other out in a highly forgettable first half.

The second half however contained allot more points, Gloucester kick started it five minutes in following Irish conceding a penalty for being offside. Shortly after another Gloucester penalty struck the post, despite Irish catching it initially Gloucester regained possession and placed Irish under pressure which meant they strayed offside. Just two minutes later, Homer was isolated by the lack of Irish support and he was turned over the following play let to a try from Purdy who had a fair distance to run to score. The conversation was missed and a triple substitution took place with Low, Steele and Cross coming off for Irish.

This seemed to wake Irish up with two more penalties; the first was for Kvesic being offside at a ruck, the second was again for offside after a period of Irish possession within the Gloucester 22.  Irish conceded penalty just before the sixty minute mark at scrum time which according to BT Sport was Aulkia’s 26^th penalty he has given away this season which was duly converted by Laidlaw. Irish scored one more penalty a short period after completing their score sheet for the day. 

Gloucester however were not finished and straight from the kick off Irish failed to exit their danger zone and the clearance kick was charged down this opportunity was not converted however thanks to the dead ball line, that said the chasing Gloucester player was not a million miles away from scoring. Irish then had a good chunk of pressure in the Gloucester 22 which was started by a good run by Short. An Irish penalty was kicked into the corner this however resulted in nothing.

 A fantastic try just eight minutes from time as Hook slotted through a kick through the Irish defence and McColl caught to score this was converted by Laidlaw which put the nail in the Irish coffin which gave the Gloucester fans allot to shout about.  However Irish shown allot of character in the last few minutes placing Gloucester under sustained pressure which as a result meant that the Gloucester number 4 went to the sin bin. Despite all this however the ball was recovered by Gloucester and despite Irish’s best efforts a mess on the floor meant the ball wasn’t coming out and the full time whistle was blown, the final score being London Irish 9 – 21 Gloucester.

A few thoughts from myself, I have to say I do think Irish are on the up following the Sale loss, it is very easy to blame the lack of international players at the time however I think the issue is much more systemic within Irish, I just hope that whatever bugs that are in the system are shook out soon. In particular I think the back line lacked any spark going forward and also the lineout faltered at key times.  

I also must admit I was a little disappointed by the crowd today a mere 5,907 meant the Madjeski seemed a bit empty, I know the game was on TV but considering the rut the team are in I think they could do with the support.

Unusually for me often due to work I’m off to see Cardiff away next weekend to so I have a London Irish double header of my own, I just hope the Cardiff trip is more fruitful as the challenge cup is Irish’s last hope of any silverware at this time. So onto Europe and lets home December brings Irish better fortune.