International call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
By Lindy
November 17 2008
It is a sign of London Irish’s success that we entered this round of the Guinness Premiership without four key players (Delon, Sailosi, Seilala and Big Bob) as they were on International Duty and a group of others only having been released to us during the week.
November 17 2008
It is a sign of London Irish’s success that we entered this round of the Guinness Premiership without four key players (Delon, Sailosi, Seilala and Big Bob) as they were on International Duty and a group of others only having been released to us during the week.
Our (Jon, Sam and Dan R43, LKR and b.q.f.m.) trip to Newcastle was first influenced by the International call up of one of Irish’s players, in that we had to find somewhere en route on the Saturday to watch Delon play. We were breaking the journey in Lichfield, so went in search of a pub to have lunch in and watch the game. We sent b.q.f.m. into the first three pubs we found to see if they were showing the game but the only success we had was one who said they would try to show the game but they could not guarantee it would work until the programme started and even then the commentary would be in Turkish. We decided that this wasn’t worth the risk (if only they could have got Graham in to do the commentary for them) and followed the third pub’s advice to find the local rugby club. We arrived at Burntwood Rugby Club and they were very welcoming even though we had London Irish shirts as well as England ones on and they were obviously in Tigers territory. They even coped really well when we leapt up to cheer Delon’s drop goal. Well, one of our team had done well, so it was on to Newcastle to see how the rest of them would perform.
On b.q.f.m.’s recommendation we went into the Twin Farms before the game but found it unusually empty although a welcoming place nonetheless. We were at the ground some time before the team and when they did arrive JonR43 started to worry as many of them kindly acknowledged us waiting there. He thought this would mean they weren’t focused on the game, but not to worry, our team can obviously multitask.
Rob Debney took ‘kick-off,’ kicking the spare ball splendidly to touch but unfortunately the real kick-off by Irish didn’t go ten metres. Newcastle were awarded a penalty at the resultant scrum and kicked to touch, won the line-out and scored a try – all within five minutes. JonR43 was saying ‘I told you they weren’t focused.’ Things didn’t improve straight away as after the next kick-off Irish gave away a penalty for not rolling away, but after about ten minutes the ball started to be in the right half of the pitch. Irish won a penalty, kicked to touch but just knocked-on. However, Irish won another penalty at that scrum, opted to go for a scrum of their own and Richard Thorpe went over for a try, converted by Peter Hewat (5-7 after 13 minutes). Much of the rest of the first half was played in the middle of the pitch (as you could see by the way the ground was dug up there). Irish were close to scoring a couple of times but nothing quite came of these moves until just before half time, when Irish were awarded a penalty in front of the posts about 40m out. Peter slotted the ball over between the posts and the half-time score was 5-10.
At the start of the second half the teams had a couple of occasions where they tried to get better acquainted with each other, which resulted in a few words from Mr Debney to the captains. Nine minutes into the second half, Irish gave away a penalty nearly in front of the posts for not rolling away and the young Newcastle fly-half, Rory Clegg, made the score 8-10. About five minutes later, Irish brought on their first replacements – Steffon Armitage for Chris Hala’ufia and Alex Corbisiero for Clarke Dermody. This soon paid off as Irish won a penalty and kicked for touch. Although the line-out led to a knock-on, Irish won the scrum on Newcastle’s feed and Steffon went over under the posts. With Peter’s conversion, this made the score 8-17. Play continued and we noticed how often Mike Catt was playing at 8 in the scrum, with one of the back row in the defensive line. I’m not sure he’d opt to swap positions on a more permanent basis though! With 20 minutes gone, James Buckland came on for David Paice, and four minutes later, Gary Johnson came on for Kieran Roche and Tonga Lea’aetoa came on for Faan Rautenbach. At this point, b.q.f.m. thought she had spotted a certain Mr Jonny Wilkinson by the dug outs. However, she had her priorities right, as she said she wouldn’t go to check this out, as Irish were going to score again. She didn’t have to wait long because, with 27 minutes gone, a lineout throw by James went to Steffon, the ball was spread out wide and Declan Danaher went over for Irish’s third try. The conversion was almost on the touchline and SamR43 said that if Peter got this one, b.q.f.m’s Australian flag would come out, despite the result of the previous day’s international. Peter duly obliged and the Australian flag was raised as the score went to 8-24. With six minutes to go, Charlie Gower came on for James Bailey (Charlie played at centre and Elvis Seveali’i went to the wing) and three minutes later Alfredo Lalanne came on for Paul Hodgson. Irish mounted a great deal of pressure in the final minutes attempting to get the bonus point try but Newcastle just held on to make the final score 8 -24.
The long journey home was not too long (although JonR43 as driver might disagree) with a good win to cheer us on our way. London Irish ‘hit by international call-ups’ had won and had moved to third in the table.
On b.q.f.m.’s recommendation we went into the Twin Farms before the game but found it unusually empty although a welcoming place nonetheless. We were at the ground some time before the team and when they did arrive JonR43 started to worry as many of them kindly acknowledged us waiting there. He thought this would mean they weren’t focused on the game, but not to worry, our team can obviously multitask.
Rob Debney took ‘kick-off,’ kicking the spare ball splendidly to touch but unfortunately the real kick-off by Irish didn’t go ten metres. Newcastle were awarded a penalty at the resultant scrum and kicked to touch, won the line-out and scored a try – all within five minutes. JonR43 was saying ‘I told you they weren’t focused.’ Things didn’t improve straight away as after the next kick-off Irish gave away a penalty for not rolling away, but after about ten minutes the ball started to be in the right half of the pitch. Irish won a penalty, kicked to touch but just knocked-on. However, Irish won another penalty at that scrum, opted to go for a scrum of their own and Richard Thorpe went over for a try, converted by Peter Hewat (5-7 after 13 minutes). Much of the rest of the first half was played in the middle of the pitch (as you could see by the way the ground was dug up there). Irish were close to scoring a couple of times but nothing quite came of these moves until just before half time, when Irish were awarded a penalty in front of the posts about 40m out. Peter slotted the ball over between the posts and the half-time score was 5-10.
At the start of the second half the teams had a couple of occasions where they tried to get better acquainted with each other, which resulted in a few words from Mr Debney to the captains. Nine minutes into the second half, Irish gave away a penalty nearly in front of the posts for not rolling away and the young Newcastle fly-half, Rory Clegg, made the score 8-10. About five minutes later, Irish brought on their first replacements – Steffon Armitage for Chris Hala’ufia and Alex Corbisiero for Clarke Dermody. This soon paid off as Irish won a penalty and kicked for touch. Although the line-out led to a knock-on, Irish won the scrum on Newcastle’s feed and Steffon went over under the posts. With Peter’s conversion, this made the score 8-17. Play continued and we noticed how often Mike Catt was playing at 8 in the scrum, with one of the back row in the defensive line. I’m not sure he’d opt to swap positions on a more permanent basis though! With 20 minutes gone, James Buckland came on for David Paice, and four minutes later, Gary Johnson came on for Kieran Roche and Tonga Lea’aetoa came on for Faan Rautenbach. At this point, b.q.f.m. thought she had spotted a certain Mr Jonny Wilkinson by the dug outs. However, she had her priorities right, as she said she wouldn’t go to check this out, as Irish were going to score again. She didn’t have to wait long because, with 27 minutes gone, a lineout throw by James went to Steffon, the ball was spread out wide and Declan Danaher went over for Irish’s third try. The conversion was almost on the touchline and SamR43 said that if Peter got this one, b.q.f.m’s Australian flag would come out, despite the result of the previous day’s international. Peter duly obliged and the Australian flag was raised as the score went to 8-24. With six minutes to go, Charlie Gower came on for James Bailey (Charlie played at centre and Elvis Seveali’i went to the wing) and three minutes later Alfredo Lalanne came on for Paul Hodgson. Irish mounted a great deal of pressure in the final minutes attempting to get the bonus point try but Newcastle just held on to make the final score 8 -24.
The long journey home was not too long (although JonR43 as driver might disagree) with a good win to cheer us on our way. London Irish ‘hit by international call-ups’ had won and had moved to third in the table.
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StumbleuponInternational call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 17/11/2008 22:23
International call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
Re: International call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
Posted by: John H (IP Logged)
Date: 17/11/2008 23:31
Great report but where were you travelling from? As someone who lives in the Birmingham area, I am puzzled why a trip to Newcastle should be via Lichfield and Burntwood.
Re: International call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
Posted by: Props are not stupid (IP Logged)
Date: 18/11/2008 10:40
Great report, thanks.
Who is Lindy?
Who is Lindy?
Re: International call ups don’t stop Irish winning.
Posted by: Jon_r43 (IP Logged)
Date: 18/11/2008 11:17
Lindy is LKR! Don't ask me why she doesn't want to be linked with the rest of the family as R_43. She should actually be Lindy_R43!
Re the trip to Lichfield one of the children's girlfriend lives in Lichfield area, so despite being Feltham basesd trips to the north tend to involve a detour to the Birmingham area. Apparently, I am mean beacuse I didn't do that detour on the way back at 10.30 at night
Re the trip to Lichfield one of the children's girlfriend lives in Lichfield area, so despite being Feltham basesd trips to the north tend to involve a detour to the Birmingham area. Apparently, I am mean beacuse I didn't do that detour on the way back at 10.30 at night
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