An Unexpected And Fair Result

For the last time this season the Bicester branch of London Irish ritualistically met up at the bus station in town, at the usual time for a Saturday. The magnificent seven have been regular attendants for six or seven season in this collective form, last season we were all STH’s, next season I will keep my seat and the other six will go to unreserved ST’s.

It was a day for the unexpected, if I could sum it up, firstly the weather was sunny with little wind, ideal for both teams to perform open running rugby, then the amount of supporters that turned up, which caught the poorly managed stadium bars by surprise, by not having enough staff and running out of Bitter before kick off, (well in the Jazz Cafe anyhow).

After the game last week I was not feeling confident of a good performance from Irish, although I did watch the Wasps V Tigers game, when they also under performed against fourteen men, it seemed that Wasps had been worked out by the Leicester coaching staff, and I was hoping that Irish would do the same, and to a certain extent we did, plus Wasps were without Simpson and Hughes, so some hope there.

From the kick-off, Irish tried to work the ball out of the 22 by throwing quick passes laterally and knocked-on, here we go, I thought pessimistically, but the resultant scrum was solid and Irish managed the situation well enough to score a try, by Fenby at the other end of the field. Wasps seemed to have under-estimated us at first, by going to the corner instead of kicking for goals, and also throwing the ball wide to early, before stretching our defense, this said, they came back at us well to score a try.

The next score was to Irish, when they took advantage of some shaky play by Wasps to create a try for Lewington (12th of the season). The game was generally fast and exciting to watch, but our performance apart from a purple patch in the second half was more controlled and accurate than I had seen for a while. The next score was by one of my favorite players, who used to wear the green jersey, Tagi diving in at the corner, but this time Goode just missed the conversion, leaving the score at 14-12.

The next try saw for me, the complete redemption of the previously, much criticised, Chris Noakes. A fantastic chip through, pick up and the longest fend I’ve ever seen, against Daly as well. The game then slowed a little and the penalty count crept up which saw Goode kicking two penalties and Shane Gergahty the one,

At half time score was 22-18. In the second half Irish seemed to loose a bit of composure and Wasps seemed to sense our uncertainty as good teams do, so through some inaccurate play and not clearing the ball when required, Wasps scored two tries for Tagi and Miller. I did think at the time, that this is where Irish self destruct, But then big Trev was on the field, and we have all missed him, and to announce his comeback from injury, he catches the ball and runs a great line, delivering the pass to James Short with such accuracy and timing that Short had to score, 32-33. Irish get a long range penalty in their own half, I assured the Wasps supporters next to me that Shane had no chance getting it, but he would have got that kick if the ball was 5 yards further back. 35-33.

Wasps were not finished though and they got back into our half with a line out throw from a scuffed clearance, Haskell scores a try, and with only 5 minutes remaining, the score is 35-40. In the last minute Shane executes a cross-field kick to Andy Short who is sprinting down the touch, Short just manages to catch and dot the ball down before running into the empty South Stand. Shane Gergahty kicks the ball just wide of the posts with the conversion attempt to finish the match at 40-40

I did not expect that result, but saw Irish for the first time in a long while not pick up any cards or annoy the match official.

I thought Mr. Doyle had a pretty good game, which was the only thing I did expect. Can’t wait now for next season.

COYI