Review of the Season Part Four - Mar, Apr, etc..

Long long season
By BrianC
June 6 2006

We move into March and the storm over the reserved East Stand continues. The site has it’s busiest ever week as the protests flood in. With the Six Nations now in full flow there are only two LI games this month.

The first of these is away at Bristol, the last of our ‘combined harvester’ trio of West Country games, this we win 20 – 21. Steven Dean’s match report contrasts the fortunes of the two clubs thus far this season, "The losing bonus point leaves Bristol still involved in the relegation battle following Saracens surprise win, level with them on 32 points, and 7 points ahead of bottom placed Leeds. We move in to 3rd place in the table narrowly above Leicester and Gloucester. These two narrow wins over Bristol by one point away, and by two points at home, have been contributions to the positions of both teams. In fact if you look at the points difference column of the table you’ll see the Irish are on +10, and Bristol are –26, which is tight."

Third in the table is indeed giddy heights. The mood is perhaps best summed up by the posts an a thread started by Griff.

All eyes now focus on the end of the month and our big Saint Patrick’s game against Sale. This is now a top of the table clash. A massive crowd is expected. On the Monday before the game the club announce that they have sold 16,600 tickets thus far.

The title of my match preview is Stage Fright. This refers to the fact that we have not won one of our two big annual games at the Madejski in years. This jinx continues as we go down 21 – 29 in a pulsating game. Mrs Goz in her match report Dad’ll be Happy sums up the experience admirably. "As the 19,883 (or something near to that) supporters made their way out to the entertainment and the rain I was left to ponder the match and the result. We made mistakes, and so did Sale. We played with flair and passion, and so did Sale. We missed some key players, and so did Sale (particularly once Robinson and Cueto went off) and I think we deserved some points, but so did Sale."

Given how good the performance was people are not too downhearted. There were many positives to be taken from the game. An added plus was highlighted by Ronnie C in a thread called Lots to celebrate!!! "After the disappointment of not winning yesterday, (I still cannot believe the result), I really feel for the team. Anyway strange as it may be to think of this seeing as we are riding so high BUT as of todays results we cannot be relegated!!!!" As this was our Saint Patrick’s game, in addition to our match report, I also penned a Craic Report.

April starts with an ECC quarter final at home to Bayonne. This we win comfortably 48 – 5 to set up a semi final away at Newcastle. Mickey Mouse writes his first match report for us Irish opens a can of whoop-ass! In it he echos what many said after the game, "My man of the match? This is a tricky one, a lot of the team played blinders today. But for me the man of the match, without a shadow of a doubt, was the Bayonne Mascot!!". The mascot later went on to win our Man of the Match poll.

One concern many of us have is our mounting injury list. Blarney falls foul of the Sportnetwork censorship machine as he details this but makes his point more than adequately. "But where to now? HC qualification looks fairly likely (one way or another). However, we're not there yet and I am a tad concerned over all the injuries we have picked up of late. I know that you can't control who gets injured or when, but its a bit of a ******* that now, going into the most crucial part of the season, they're piling up."

In the run up to our next game, away at Worcester, one of the most remarkable posts I have ever seen on the board comes from John A,. Steffon Armitage’s father. "Steffon is unhappy at Sarrries and has asked to be released to join another club. I understand that other clubs are interested but Saracens has refused to release him." He goes on to detail Steffons (mis)treatment by Saracens. This thread is picked up by many websites and is also turned into a story by the Watford local paper.

Our game at Worcester turns out to be a hard fought encounter in difficult conditions which we win 10 – 12. Steven Dean provides us with another of his excellent match reports, We win at windy Worcester. One issue he highlights is the unfriendliness of the Worcester stewards. "Once again I travelled on the supporters’ coach and arrived, with drums and bodhrans, some 2 hours before kick-off. The local stewards had been told by the Health & Safety officer that our percussion was likely to be ‘an outrage to public decency’. It really did seem that we’d arrived in Bible belt America intent on watching Elvis ‘the Pelvis’ Presley. Give ‘me a uniform and they think they’re Hitler. There was no explanation, no discussion; like classic nightclub bouncers they were "not coming in, sonny". So we had a quick photo-op at the gates, and entered, drum-less."

Steven Dean is not alone in expressing disappointment at the reception in Worcester. Several people make comments, not least jeep who sumarised the difference between this visit and his previous one. "Gone = atmosphere, spark, charm, friendliness, CRAIC: In = jobsworth stewards, commercial madness, 2pt glasses"

Next we face Leeds. Going into the game they look certain to be relegated. With just three games remaining they are ten points adrift at the bottom of the table. Just as with Bristol three years previously it could be us who seal their fate. Whilst we do beat them 28 – 24 the two bonus points they picked up kept them in the hunt but not for long. Newcastle’s victory the following day sealed their fate. In his match report StevieJ muses on the closeness of the game "Looking back a few days after the event, it amazes me we came close to losing that match. For all our first half dominance, to be only ten points up at halftime gave me that nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach you only get with London Irish."

Whilst the victory was welcome the performance didn’t inspire many. RT was one such person "I thought the backs performed very well but the forwards were slightly off the pace - as Eddie Butler puts it in the Observer, we weren't very crisp. The result was that while we made large inroads into Leeds defense first up, 2nd and subsequent phases were poor because the forwards weren't as good clearing out as normal."

The following week takes us to Tyneside as we play Newcastle in the semi-final of the ECC. We appeared to have this game comfortably won with ten minutes plus injury time to go but then fell apart. In the end we just held on to win 22 – 27. The title of Timmeh’s match report, Who ordered exciting? captures the feelings of many. "The referee blows for full-time and Irish have won and are in the final. However the last few minutes have been so draining that it’s hard to take in."

Joy at reaching the final is tempered by the news that it is to be held at The Stoop. With a capacity of 12,700 most believe that it will be too small. The ERC come in for quite a bit of stick, not least from Carlovian on a thread discussing the ERC statement. "Will these people never actually listen to what people say to them? How many organisations could exist for a week with that kind of attitude? It's the same old story - we're supporters, evidently held in contempt and easily exploited."

Our next fixture is in the league at Wasps. The match has been switched to 6pm on Sunday night to accommodate the Sky TV cameras. What a match it turned out to be. We scored nine out of the fourteen tries in total as we won 37 – 56. Griff penned the match report Don't pinch me - I don't want to wake-up. "To my mind the biggest win of Irish's history. Yes, I do mean bigger than the 2002 Powergen Cup final, that was indeed massive but this one was stunning. We took apart the three-time English champions to end their 15-month home record."

To say people are happy with the result is an understatement. RT posts on how we beat the Wasps’ Blitz Defence "Compared to how LI performed at the MadStad at New Year when we were completely swamped by Wasps defence, the approach taken in Sunday which essentially represents an attitude which says 'We will have tries scored against us; but we'll score more!' should be applauded by all."

The first week of May is the site’s busiest ever with over 200k hits. This is due to the combined effects of the fantastic victory over Wasps, the run up to the last game of the season and the scrabble for ECC final tickets which go on sale.

Our last home game of the season is also our last league game, against Saracens. We won the game 30 – 18 but as I pointed out in my match report there was a strange feeling around the Madejski "It was strange in that there weren't the nerves of recent seasons. Fear of relegation has been such a constant factor in recent years. It was strange in that other than honour neither side had anything to play for. It was even more strange that in the aftermath of last weeks craicing victory at Wasps it was bound to be something of an anticlimax."

We finish the regular season in third place and enter uncharted territory for is in the shape of the Championship. Before our semi final there are a number of threads discussing the validity of this competition. People seem to be split down the middle, certainly if the thread If you had to chose…..? is anything to go by.

In the semi final we get well beaten by Leicester 40 – 8. Exilejonny’s match report tells the story. He sums up most peoples feelings well in the last paragraph. "At the end of the game a lot of players looked disappointed, but I would like to say well done lads for what has been a truly great season. No one could have predicted how well we have done this season and you have done us all proud. So hold your heads high, go to the Stoop next week and bring home the silverware."

Such sentiments are echoed on the messageboard. LiamM puts it thus, "Even if we don't win another game between now and the pre-season friendlies, this season has gone way beyond my expectations. To Brian, Toby, all the backroom staff and especially the playing squad and our fantastic academy........thank you! It's been a blinding season and one that you can all be rightly proud of. I know I'm proud of you and I'd bet that all supporters are too."

Our last game of this long season is the ECC Final against Gloucester. Despite fears that the Stoop would be too small there are still tickets left as the day approaches.

The run up to the game is overshadowed by the news that wee Jack Wakefield's fight for life is near an end. Both father Gordon and grandfather Peter post to tell us that he has been given just hours to live. What then follows is what I can only describe as an online vigil. Mulledwinemarie becomes the main conduit of information between the family and the online community.

The game itself is a corker. Tied 28 all at full time it went into extra time. This we lost, the final score was 33 - 31. You won't read much about the game in Gilesthedrunk's match report. The 'spirit' of the day had well and truly taken hold of him. Truth is that though many were disappointed by the result, thoughts were elsewhere.

Remarkably, against all the odds, wee Jack kept fighting. The vigil continued. As I publish this he is still alive. Any joy or sadness that we have felt following our club in this very best of seasons is put well and truly into perspective. This brave little boy has touched so many hearts. He is 'Still fighting'.