World Tour of Norn Iron Report

By BrianC
September 1 2003

Those of you who have already been on a London Irish tour will not need me to tell you what an enjoyable experience it is. The world tour of Belfast was certainly no exception, the craic was ninety.

For me the tour started in the Crown Liquor Saloon at about 4pm.This is a magnificent pub, one of the highlights of any trip to Belfast is a visit here. What made it even more special to me was the sight of a large group of the London Irish family doing what they do best, enjoying the craic.

As always with such groups there were those I knew from the Madstad and other tours. Again as is common, there were those I was meeting for the first but I'm sure not the last time, Hugh Jass and John Rafferty were two that I was able to have a chat with. It was also particularly pleasing to see locally based family members again, namely the Donaghadee Branch and the M@ds. Some Ulster supporters also popped in to chew the cud.

After a couple of  hours it was time to head up to Ravenhill.Taxis were ordered and swiftly arrived, ten minutes or so later we were all at the ground. The first thing that struck me was that, particularly for a friendly, the crowd was big. Subsequent press reports put the numbers between 8500 and 10000. One other noticeable thing was that quite a number of the local supporters were wearing London Irish shirts of various vintages. These two factors combined testify to the strength of LI support there is amongst those based in the province. It also made it difficult to judge how many travelling supporters there were, my best guess is that we numbered 70 - 80 in total.

Whilst we were waiting to move on to the terrace Conor popped over and had a word with us. He struck me as being very relaxed about the proceedings to come yet at the same time he left us in no doubt that the boys were very much up for the game and wanted to win.

A group of about thirty or so of us stood on the terraces at the corner of the field as the game started. We were unfortunately particularly well positioned to see the first two Ulster converted tries being scored within ten minutes of the start of the game. The first when Ulster having been awarded a penalty opted for a lineout. This they caught and drove over the line, their prop Ronan McCormack doing the job. The second of these tries was scored by Ulster captain Tony Ward after a period when our defence looked particularly at sea. At 14 - 0 to Ulster we had a mountain to climb.

Our nerves then seemed to settle and we had a prolonged period camped in the Ulster half. Initially this brought little reward, on thirty five minutes we had only managed to claw back two Tofty penalties leaving the score at 14 - 6. Then what could be argued as a stroke of luck but could also be credited to the prolonged period of pressure came our way. As Ulster out  half Paddy Wallace attempted to clear the ball on his own line it was charged down and fell nicely inside their try line. Quick as a flash Matt Cannon jumped on the ball and our first try was duly recorded, Tofty duly converted this, 14 - 13. On the stroke of half time a clever Tofty cross field kick found Bish he fed the ball straight to Mike Orak who ran in. Tofty duly converted this and we went in at half time 13 - 20 in our favour.

I had been texting score updates to Reading Glasses during the first half, when I called him at half time I said that I thought Ulster would come out all guns blazing at the start of the second half and that the first then minutes of this would be crucial. So it turned out to be, Ulster scored under the posts within a few minutes of the restart putting them in the lead again 21 - 20. This time however we kept our shape, perhaps helped by the fact that Ulster's Matt Sexton was sin binned although we didn't score anything during the period he was off the pitch. Sustained pressure saw Ulster concede a penalty which Tofty duly converted.

The Ulster defence, which had appeared so good in the first 35 minutes was creaking by this stage. This to my mind was due to some very crisp handling and clever running on our part, the forwards at this staged looked as good as I have ever seen them. When Delon Armitage ran in at the corner it was the culmination of a long passage of play. To say he looked pleased is an understatement, he jumped up and wrapped himself round the nearest team player - Bob I think. With five minutes to go Bob Casey ran in another try. The game, as a contest was over 21 - 33 to London Irish. That said, the best try of the game was still to come. Two minutes into injury time Ulster replacement Scott Young ran the length of the pitch to score.  Final result in what was an excellent match Ulster 26 - 33 London Irish. At the end of the game the team came over to thank us. Guys if any of you are reading this, such gestures, win or lose, are greatly appreciated, thank you.

Being a pre-season friendly I am wary of reading too much into this game however let us be under no illusion these were two strong teams who both badly wanted to win. My one area of concern is our scrum. We got pushed over once and on other occasions it looked a bit flaky. That said the line outs were generally solid and the ball handling, retention and distribution was vastly better than most of what we saw last season. Tofty had a great game, he really does add another dimension to the backs. What most impresses me is the fact that you never really know what he is going to do with the ball, he varies things so much. This always has the opposition guessing. Phil Murphy came on in the second half, he looks the business. One little grubber kick of his split the Ulster defence and led to Delon's try.

In general I take far more positives away from this game than negatives. Most important of all to my mind is that the mood in the camp feels right. There seems to be a calm confidence around that I haven't felt for a good while. I, for one, am looking forward to the season proper.

After the game whilst we were having a few drinks in the ground some of the players came over to join us. For the first time I had a chat with Fred Gustard. He is a charming and very perceptive individual, once his career playing rugby is over I have little doubt that he could, should he wish, follow a career in coaching. Amongst other things he had read 'Operation Rose' so we discussed some aspects of this.

Presently some taxis whisked us to the Botanic Inn where on the crowded front bar Finnegan led the sing song. One well oiled local took exception to this and called us a 'Bunch of Plastic Paddies' as he lurched out of the bar. Quick as a flash Mr M@d started a chorus of 'I'd rather be a plastic than a prick' which a good number of the locals joined in with. Weather this chap heard it and what his reaction was I'll never know. Him aside the good people of Belfast were uniformly friendly throughout our trip.

Saturday saw a group of us back in the Crown then off to the Botanic Inn again for the Ireland vs Italy game. I said my goodbyes directly after this and set about doing some family duties.

This was a truly great trip, those of you who weren't there missed a real treat.