FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

Myself and my fellow London Irish supporters, when meeting up at the bus stop, were not sure whether the game would go ahead on Saturday, because of the dreadful atrocities that had taken place on Friday night in Paris, but the decision was made to play, which I think was the correct choice, although it would have been equally correct to cancel the game as well.

The match started with a minute silence for the crowd, while the Agen team sang the French national anthem it was very emotional and moving. Everyone in the stadia were reflective and felt great sympathy for the French people and everyone who had been effected by the tragic events, I did think at the time, how much I take for granted the impeccable behavior of the rugby fraternity.

The crowd seemed to be one of the smallest I had seen at the Madstad, but sometimes it’s not the quantity but the quality that counts. The Irish team selected was a mixture of youth and experience, with a few debutants on show, so a lot of unknowns about what to expect. The Agen team, I think, was not the strongest they may have put out but they played with the right spirit and never gave up.

The game started off at a frantic pace with some good work from the backs, the handling was a lot better and more assured than previous games, on what was a rainy, blustery day in Reading, this made it easy to get into the game. The first points went to Agen via a penalty 40yards out, center of the sticks, for failing to move away from the ruck, that would prove to be the only points scored by Agen in that half of the game. It was not long after that, through some good handling of the ball by Irish and a brilliant darting run from Allinson, the scrum half, that Irish were deep in Agen territory. At the first scrum of the game the ball was won by Irish and accurately shipped to the debutant Johnny Williams for the first try in the corner, 5 – 3 to Irish 11mins played.

Agen then upped their game and put Irish under some good pressure for a spell but the defense was solid and Irish cleared their lines through an excellent touch-finder to the halfway line by Maitland who had an assuredness about him at fullback all game, the likes I haven’t seen since Delon played there.

At 22mins another try scored by the Irish hooker Gerrard Ellis who received the ball on the Agen 22 metre line and after some lateral running slipped through a small gap in the Agen defense to score in the same corner as the previous try, making the score 10 – 3. Irish were working the ball well and held there discipline but rode their luck, when Agen ran a counter attack up the middle of the pitch and if the ball, for the final pass, had of gone to hand they would have been clean through to the line. Irish then composed themselves, so much so that they worked their way over the try line again, via a driving maul, the scorer was the pack, but you have to award it to a the new boy Joe Trayfoot, with Noake’s conversion the score was 17 – 3.

With some good pick and drives Irish scored just before half time to secure the four try bonus point, the scorer was that man again Harry Ellis, 24 – 3 at half time.
Agen came out for the second half with more determination and put pressure on Irish, but the defense of the Exiles, again was solid, Halani Aulika managed to turn the ball over at one point, this allowed Irish to work their way up the pitch and let Noake’s put in a deft chip of the ball, through for Lewington to pounce on it, making the score 29 – 3.

The usual raft of substitutions started to arrive, which broke the general rhythm of the game. Irish scored despite this, a try, which was for me the best of the day, because of the skill, style but most of all team work that Irish displayed to get it, the scorer was Rob McCusker, 36 – 3.

Irish scored another try at 60mins, when the backs and notably Tiko, with some crisp passes put Maitland through to score, 43 – 3. Worryingly Symonds, who had dominated in the line outs all day, went off injured and with more substitutions the Irish had to defend their line for much of the remainder of the match, the penalty count against Irish went up resulting in a yellow for Tom Cruise immediately after Agen scored a try, 43 – 10. Irish managed to steady themselves after that and produced the final score of the match, touched down by Alex Lewington, for his second score of the match.

Final score 48 – 10. Thinking back on the game, Irish needed this win badly, they did win well, this hopefully, should get us prepared for much sterner tests ahead.
I would also like to mention that after the game Topsy came over to the East stand to Autograph shirts and have pictures taken with some of the families there, a nice touch in my book.