Under Pressure!

 This weekend has been once again full of lots of rugby to watch. But thinking about it over Sunday breakfast I am feeling a bit flat with what I have seen so far. Don’t get me wrong there has been some good rugby but I didn’t really get into it. The 6 nations have been a bit of a non event for me. Is it because of England's ineptitude? Is it the fact “championship” players were being used. A point that resulted in players leaving us if they wanted to further their career. Was it the fact that all teams were in the rebuilding process? I don’t know. I just didn’t really get into them, there was no edge of the seat excitement or interest.

I then sat back and thought the reason was we have been spoilt, for the last few weeks with non stop angst! Buckets of frustration! Nail-biting periods of play. Palpitations and at the end of it a sense of relief and a smile for a week! That is why I love London Irish. Never doing things the easy way and giving us the spectacle and relief we crave. The total unpredictability is what it is all about. So today ... We don’t win at Sale. They are a very hard team to beat regardless of that so what can we expect? We moaned last season about the constant rotations but that is not happening this year. It is only minor tweaks due to injury and rotation within the 23. So DK and KK are taking this game seriously. We are not going north to just get a point. The excitement and anticipation is now always there 40 minutes before kick off.

So on to the game. It starts with a silly early penalty and instant pressure which is compounded by a further offside. It is eventually knock-on by Sale over our line but is pulled back for an early tackle and a forward pass! Good Grief! TBC goes to the bin but no penalty try at least. It doesn't matter there is still pressure in the corner and an inevitable try for Sale.

Not long after we get a scrum penalty and we are now on the attack. With a second penalty in their half Paddy elects to kick and we are on the board 7-3. From the kick off Meahan puts Loader under pressure and subsequently Albert. He drops it so a scrum back in the corner which is penalised with a penalty. Across the field it goes with a cross field kick only to be fumbled in the act of scoring the try. So despite still being under pressure and back in the corner, after a bad Sale throw we get the ball and make it back into their half. TBC returns, so we got away with that one in terms of points.

On the quarter mark the play becomes scrappy on both sides but our handling leaves a lot to be desired. When we are inevitably pushed back into the corner a Meahan box kick, in our 5, is charged down and de Jarger touches down. However, from the knockdown, it catches his hand a second time so, knock on. Phew!

We are under a lot of pressure at this point but I am starting to get frustrated. There seems to be so much crossing in the Sale attack the only thing missing is the zebra lines! Nothing is called! We give away another silly penalty for creeping which this time is kicked but missed. We are getting away with it a bit with two scratched tries and a missed penalty. Once again we have a game where we are lacking possession and just soaking up self inflicted pressure. I suppose it was just a matter of time before they went over again this time in the corner. The conversion is missed.

When we do have it we give it away. Albert's hands are not like they should be and OHC knocks it into touch with his hand. The TMO decides it needs looking at but he gets the benefit. (Look at something more obvious like the crossing and blocking!) After another penalty and a chip over the top a bad bounce for us sees the ball touched down between three defenders under the post. This is very poor and should be worse than the 19-3 score at this point. It is only Sale's mistakes that are stopping it from being already home time.

On 36 minutes, I am trying to think, have we been in their 22? Since we are getting close but not this time a forward pass! At last, get it into their corner, in the last minute but as we go across the field and we get pinged for crossing. Typical! Almost straight away it goes down the other end, missing a forward pass and Sale get the BP or do they? It goes back for the forward pass and another one gets chalked off!!

Sale have scored three and had three crossed off at half time so I guess we should be happy with it being only 19-3. The boys need some serious talking to. We are just being dominated and blown away. On the statistics we once again have had only 33% possession and conceded 8 penalties. The real wow was that they had made 244 yard and we had made .... wait for it 26!

We have a history of turning things around this season so all is not lost, is it? The team returns unchanged and we get a penalty at the kick off. PJ goes for the posts and 19-6. We have a small bit of momentum and after a no arms tackle from Sale and they lose a player.

If we are going to get anything here we need to make this 10 minutes count. Sale are starting to make errors but then again so are we! We do however make some yards but the final dig through was the wrong call and it comes to nothing. Another mistake and poor passing sees their winger pick up the ricochet and go under the posts.

I think that is it and it is now a long way home. With the score 26-6, on came the first set of changes on 51 minutes, with both props and Phipps for Meahan who has been slow today. More poor passing and poor control on the floor adds to the scrappiness. We are now actually picking up penalties but not making any progress.

Hoskins surges but in the reach loses it short of line. I think that sums up the day. I now start laughing uncontrollably when we are pinged again for crossing and not once have Sale been called. With 20 mins to go and the bench is emptied. What is making it worse is I glanced at my phone and Northampton are beating Bristol! (Thankfully it did not last). Hear we go!

We get the obligatory Phipps thrown interception pass and the score is now 31-6. The whole team has looked so tied and lethargic all game perhaps we should have identified this game as a no hoper and rested more of the key players. On 70 mins we eventually get some good movement and hands. With a great final offload from Cowan, Donnell scores our only try. 31-13.

With 5 minutes to go Phipps takes a forearm to the chest and Sale go down to 14. From the penalty we have a chance but a deliberate knock on stops us. It is not penalised by the ref initially but the TMO upgrades it to penalty and another yellow is rightly given.

Sale are now down to 13. We can't make anything happen but 13 men can and they get their final try!

That is now 8 unreplied defeats at the AJ. Was I over optimistic? Yes. Am I disappointed with the performance? Yes, but they looked totally knackered. We need some more rotation this week I think. But then again it is Bath .... Importantly, am I dejected? No. It was a bad day at the office but taking a step back, at this time of the season I start looking at the league table and trying to work out how many more games we need to win to be safe. I know it doesn't matter but if it did, the answer would be only half of the remaining. Now that is not something I could have said for a few years. I like the sound of 5th or 6th this year so that is realistically our goal.