We denied them their Pizzas

No pepperoni
By Billy Hamilton
January 14 2005

With the up-coming Powergen Cup quarter final against Saracens it occurred to Billy Hamilton that we should have a look back at a fine match. Our meeting at Vicarage Road in November 2001 was a classic, here is Billy's report rescued from the old Rivals site.

Date: 23/11/2001

Over 100 points, 14 tries and two bonus points in two games, this has been a remarkable week for London Irish. After the game against a poor Northampton side it was only the most optimistic Irish supporter who would have predicted such a comprehensive drubbing at Vicarage Road.

Straight from the kick off we were on the attack and the ball came out to Paul Sackey and he went over for a try all within the first minute. Barry Everitt added the conversion and we were seven points up almost the pea which had signalled the kick off had come to rest in the referee's whistle. An overhead long pass from Keiron Dawson sent Naka Drotske into the left corner for the second try and Barry obliged again and it 14-0. An astute man would have now started a sweepstake on the time of the try which would gain our bonus point.

Two penalties from Barry and one from his opposite number Luke Smith settled the score at 3-20 going into the second quarter. The Irish were still mounting useful attacks but poor handling let them down. Three attacks in a row ended in scrums for knock forward. Saracens were unable to capitalise on our errors and 23 minutes had passed before the home side mounted their first serious onslaught on our line. We managed to clear the ball and only a marvellous tackle prevented Eddie Halvey scoring our second try. Barry kicked his third penalty to give us a healthy 20-point lead. Saracens eventually made it over our line when a maul from a lineout pushed over and prop Luke Harbut touched down. Smith added the conversion. Justin
Bishop got our third try to give us a 28-10 lead at half-time.

Smith and Barry scored penalties within the first five minutes of the second half.

"What was that about pizzas?" I hear you ask. 50 minutes into the game came the "Dominoes 5-Minute Mayhem". If Saracens scored a point in the next five minutes then everyone was entitled to a "Two for the Price of One" at the local branch of the aforementioned pizza chain. But we kept them pizzaless. The citizens of Watford went home hungry. In fact it might as well have been a "35-Minute Mayhem" as they were not to score again in the match. This in spite of the fact that we were down to 14 men when Justin was given a yellow card for a deliberate knock on. Jason Wright was the man to gain the bonus point and Barry again converted. Further tries by replacement Ed Thrower, Chris Sheasby, the latter converted, brought up the 50 points. Barry capped another marvellous game with a try following a thirty-metre solo run to bring his points total for the night to 25.

Man of the Match - they all deserved a joint award. They played magnificently as this was a harder test than the game against Northampton. If they can maintain that standard then a win against Leicester in 10 days time is a distinct possibility.
No notes from the press conference today. I attended the game as a spectator and paid to get in - the first time I have done so since the game went professional! So there was a pint of the black stuff calling me from the "Red Lion" where I joined with my fellow fans to celebrate a marvellous week in the history of the club.