Sale kicked off and the catch was taken very competently by Delon, who passed to Eoghan Hickey and he kicked to touch.  Whilst Sale won their line out we pinched the ball in the resultant ruck, marched up the field in majestic style and Sailosi Tagicakibau scored in the left (if you are looking from the North Stand) corner.  A fine conversion by Delon made the score 7 – 0 to Irish.

From the kick off a high ball was taken very neatly and from the line out and maul Sale kick to touch just inside our half.  Now things start to get a little testy and there is a little pushing and shoving in the line out before the throw has been taken.  Still we win the line out comfortably and a nice little passage of passing is broken with a delightful pass straight into the welcoming arms of a Sale player.  Shortly after this the whistle blows and Delon is sent for his customary ten-minute rest for, I found out later, an alleged deliberate trip.

From the line out (Sale kicked to touch) we concede a penalty smack bang in the middle of the field (Ref’s signal seemed to indicate that this was for not rolling away).  Luke McAllister kicks successfully to make the score 7 – 3 with 9 minutes gone.

There then came a particularly strange passage of play which ended with Sale hoofing the ball up pitch from their 22 all the way to our in goal area.  Now I would like to think that what happened next meant that we are learning to be “street smart” as whoever fielded the ball held on to it and didn’t touch it down until the opposition had run all the way from their 22 to out 22!

We then played a little bit of aerial ping-pong with Sale.  The ball was eventually caught by Sebastian Chebal who embarked on one of his trademark runs towards our try line.  The score looked to be a certainty, but Chebal’s pass went astray and straight in to touch about 8 metres from our try line.  We won our lineout and cleared with a high kick, competently caught by Mr Chebal.  I did not see quite what happened next, but in the 18^th minute, we were on the losing end of a Mr Davy decision and Sale were awarded a very kickable penalty, which was missed by Luke McAllister.  Still 7 – 3 to Irish.

Sale just could not seem to get going.  Our tackling was top drawer and there were some fantastic offloads out of tackles – by Gonzalo Tiesi especially.

Our scrum was, at times, under some considerable pressure, but we seemed to cope reasonably well.  I have a note that we had a scrum in the 23^rd minute on the Sale 22, but Mr Davy awarded a penalty to Sale, as he believed our front row had popped up.  I could tell by Bob’s body language that he was not overly delighted at this decision!  From the kick to touch we stole their lineout and embarked on a series of pick and drives to slowly march up the pitch.  Mr Davy then awards us a penalty, as the opposition did not roll away from a tackle.  However I think we were lucky as Tonga embarked on a spot of mountain climbing, which could have reversed the penalty.  A nice kick to midway in the Sale half gave us a lineout, which we duly won. 

The next passage of play saw Shane make a neat little grubber kick in to touch and Sale had a line out on the Sale 5 metre line.  The ref ruled the throw to be crooked and awarded a scrum to us, which he reset twice before giving us a free kick.  This was taken quickly and swung wide to a rampaging Gonzalo who touched down wide left.  The conversion was missed and with 6 minutes to half time the score was 12 – 3 to Irish.

From the kick off Delon took another good catch and we cleared in to touch on the half way line with a kick from Shane.  The Sale lineout was a bit messy and we almost nicked it.  A Sale player was flattened on the half way line by a stonking tackle, which I think was made by Gonzo.  The half time score: 12 – 3 to Irish.

My first half observations were that by heck we were up for this; our scrum looked a bit creaky at times, but the front five were just about coping; there were great tackles, especially by Gonzo; and Luke McAllister is one class player.

At the beginning of the second half, my son Charlie took up the note taking challenge whilst I answered the call of nature, queued for ages to acquire a Coca-Cola, only to be told they had run out!

Our kick off was taken in to contact by sale, who kicked up pitch not finding touch.  We then indulged in another short bout of aerial tennis, before creating an overlap and Delon put the ball down in the try zone.  A missed conversion makes the score 17 – 3 to Irish.

A penalty to Sale sees the score creep up to 17 – 6 to Irish.

A high tackle by a Sale player sees a little telling off (surely, by comparison to the first half incident a little ten minute rest is appropriate) and we kick to touch on the Sale ten metre line.  The ref gives Sale a free kick for, I presume, delaying the put in, but it is any ones guess!

Another bout of aerial tennis sees Sale’s number nine finally finding touch with a sliced kick.

London Irish Subs :  Peter Richards on for Paul Hodgson (I though Paul had a good game and the delivery passes from the rucks were quick, decisive and accurate).  Oh, I have just notice that Nils is on for Gonzalo – hopefully this is because we are wrapping Gonzo in cotton wool in preparation for next week’s HC game.

15 minutes in to the second half Sale are awarded a penalty, but I cannot really see what for.  Must be one of those occasions for “wearing Green”.  Kick is successful by McAllister : - 17 – 9 to Irish.

Sale seem to be suffering from the “Irish affliction” today of finding themselves is a scoring situation and either dropping the ball or making dreadful passes.

With 13 minutes to go we have a scrum just inside our half.  Mr Davy then awards Sale the penalty as according to him, we have collapsed it (why would we collapse our own scrum?).  Luke McAllister kicks the penalty and the score is 17 – 12 to Irish.

Irish subs : Phil Murphy on for Steffon Armitage.

A Penalty by Eoghan Hickey takes the score to 20 – 12 to Irish.

Irish Subs : Danie Coetzee on for David Paice (David had another good game – must be knocking on the door for a full England Cap shortly and I am bursting to see him sing the English National Anthem!).

With seven minutes to go further Irish subs see James Hudson on for Nick Kennedy (another sublime performance in the line out – Mr Ashton are you watching).

By now I think we are tiring slightly – the whole team have tackled like demons throughout the game.  Topsy then made one of the tackles of the game and you could see the uplifting effect of this on the rest of the team.  The game ended with a satisfying 20 – 12 win for Irish.

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