At the Crossroads Motel
By MrGoz December 30 2002
“We are at the crossroads of our season” said Conor afterwards ”We know we can keep on dogging it out for a result, but we also know we can play a hell of a lot better”.
By MrGoz December 30 2002
“We are at the crossroads of our season” said Conor afterwards ”We know we can keep on dogging it out for a result, but we also know we can play a hell of a lot better”.
A crowd of just under 11,000 braved the wind and the rain at the Madejski to watch what was arguably the most important match of the season so far for London Irish. “The crowd was magnificent, unbelievable” said Conor.
The teams entered the arena to the melodic warblings of Sammy and the rhythmic bashing of the drum corps. The teams lined up, the ball was hoisted into the air, the crowd roared and it was game on. Only it wasn’t.
The first fifteen minutes gave a clue to what the game of Quidditch would look like if it was ever turned into a ballet. We saw 30 guys in rugby boots engaging in a hugely unsuccessful game of pass-the-parcel.
After what seemed like an eternity Mr Speadbury thought he had better do something to liven things up. He invited Barry to have a shot at goal following a Newcastle offside at a ruck. Barry entered into the spirit of what had gone before by slapping his kick wide of the left hand post.
So the game meandered on between one side mainly looking to defend (us) and another with no clue how to attack (them). It was during this phase that the unthinkable happened and our very own ‘Captain Indestructible’ was led injured from the field.
Suddenly! Nothing happened. Then the game continued at its previous high level of mediocrity. On 29 minutes Barry was invited to have another pop at goal from 35 metres and straight in front. He missed badly to the right (“he will kick his way through this bad run” said Conor).
Finally, on 35 minutes came one of three key moments in the match. A huge booming clearance from Barry (his line kicking was magnificent throughout) led to a Newcastle lineout on their own 22. The throw missed their jumpers and was caught and driven forward by Declan. From the ensuing scrum the ball was fed to Barry 15 metres from the try line. As the Newcastle defence came up Barry produced a perfectly weighted grubber kick and sprinted through to touch down between the posts (“a moment of individual brilliance” said Rob Andrew afterwards). The conversion was formality and the half ended with the score Irish 7 Newcastle 0.
Both teams began the second half with more purpose. A promising position for Irish following a knock on was lost when Paul Sackey’s attempted chip was intercepted. It took a good clearance kick from Matt Cannon (who had a solid debut at inside centre) to clear the danger.
Then in the 44th minute came the second, and probably the decisive, moment of the game. Nick Burrows blocked Tom May’s attempted kick through on half way. He hacked on to just short of the line before gathering and diving over for an opportunist try. Barry slapped the conversion wide right as the Newcastle backs charged out to leave the score Oirish 12 Newcastle 0.
We now saw a flurry of substitutions with Hardwick on for Halford, Hatley for Worsley and Dawson for Danaher.
The next 10 minutes or so saw a period of sustained (if laboured) Newcastle pressure. However, in a manner reminiscent of some of our own recent games, they squandered possession at vital stages through turnovers.
Their best chance, and the third key moment, came on 50 minutes when a rolling maul smashed through the Irish defence and charged over the line. Somehow Paul Gustard managed to get himself under the ball and although the referee originally indicated a try, the intervention of his touch judge proved decisive and a scrum 5 awarded instead.
After 62 minutes Richard Kirke and Mark Mapletoft came on for Naka Drotske and Matt Cannon respectively.
The front row ‘old guard’ of Hatley, Kirke and Hardwick then proceeded to grind the game out a Newcastle’s reach. After what, for this game, was a sustained period of possession close to the Newcastle line, the pressure told. Christian the Newcastle hooker was sin binned for offside at a ruck and Barry flopped over the resulting penalty to kill the game at 15-0 after 70 minutes.
One last desperate Newcastle attack was repulsed at a 5-metre line out, then turned into a thrilling break that ended with a knock-on 10 metres from the Newcastle line. After that the play remained in the Newcastle 22 as the fat boys in the scrum exploited their numerical and physical advantage. Driving the Newcastle pack off their own ball the forwards set up a superb attacking position only for Mark Mapletoft to knock-on with a 5 to 3 overlap outside.
Finally the pressure told in the 7th minute of injury time (you always get good value with Mr Speadbury). Newcastle dropped the ball, Paul Sackey kicked through and followed up to score. Barry’s kick was again unsuccessful so the game ended moments later with the score London Irish 20 Newcastle 0.
Some comments in summary:
1) Paul Gustard was my MOM by a country mile. In a game that was made for his style of play he was everywhere (as Stuart Barnes might have said “how many Paul Gustards are there on the pitch”.).
2) Matt Cannon filled the Doctor’s boots admirably in defence, and showed one or two nice side-steps when going forward. A good first appearance in the Premiership proper.
3) In Nick Kennedy we have a line out presence that the opposition fear. By the second half the Newcastle throws were so skew they were practically aimed at the fly half.
4) Newcastle were a poor side and we did what we needed to do to win (and win comfortably).
5) If the friends of the person who shouts “digger!” every time Barry kicks for goal are reading this, you are letting him down big time. By now one of you should have been a true friend and explained that it was not funny the first time. By the fifth time it is the verbal equivalent of body odour.
The teams entered the arena to the melodic warblings of Sammy and the rhythmic bashing of the drum corps. The teams lined up, the ball was hoisted into the air, the crowd roared and it was game on. Only it wasn’t.
The first fifteen minutes gave a clue to what the game of Quidditch would look like if it was ever turned into a ballet. We saw 30 guys in rugby boots engaging in a hugely unsuccessful game of pass-the-parcel.
After what seemed like an eternity Mr Speadbury thought he had better do something to liven things up. He invited Barry to have a shot at goal following a Newcastle offside at a ruck. Barry entered into the spirit of what had gone before by slapping his kick wide of the left hand post.
So the game meandered on between one side mainly looking to defend (us) and another with no clue how to attack (them). It was during this phase that the unthinkable happened and our very own ‘Captain Indestructible’ was led injured from the field.
Suddenly! Nothing happened. Then the game continued at its previous high level of mediocrity. On 29 minutes Barry was invited to have another pop at goal from 35 metres and straight in front. He missed badly to the right (“he will kick his way through this bad run” said Conor).
Finally, on 35 minutes came one of three key moments in the match. A huge booming clearance from Barry (his line kicking was magnificent throughout) led to a Newcastle lineout on their own 22. The throw missed their jumpers and was caught and driven forward by Declan. From the ensuing scrum the ball was fed to Barry 15 metres from the try line. As the Newcastle defence came up Barry produced a perfectly weighted grubber kick and sprinted through to touch down between the posts (“a moment of individual brilliance” said Rob Andrew afterwards). The conversion was formality and the half ended with the score Irish 7 Newcastle 0.
Both teams began the second half with more purpose. A promising position for Irish following a knock on was lost when Paul Sackey’s attempted chip was intercepted. It took a good clearance kick from Matt Cannon (who had a solid debut at inside centre) to clear the danger.
Then in the 44th minute came the second, and probably the decisive, moment of the game. Nick Burrows blocked Tom May’s attempted kick through on half way. He hacked on to just short of the line before gathering and diving over for an opportunist try. Barry slapped the conversion wide right as the Newcastle backs charged out to leave the score Oirish 12 Newcastle 0.
We now saw a flurry of substitutions with Hardwick on for Halford, Hatley for Worsley and Dawson for Danaher.
The next 10 minutes or so saw a period of sustained (if laboured) Newcastle pressure. However, in a manner reminiscent of some of our own recent games, they squandered possession at vital stages through turnovers.
Their best chance, and the third key moment, came on 50 minutes when a rolling maul smashed through the Irish defence and charged over the line. Somehow Paul Gustard managed to get himself under the ball and although the referee originally indicated a try, the intervention of his touch judge proved decisive and a scrum 5 awarded instead.
After 62 minutes Richard Kirke and Mark Mapletoft came on for Naka Drotske and Matt Cannon respectively.
The front row ‘old guard’ of Hatley, Kirke and Hardwick then proceeded to grind the game out a Newcastle’s reach. After what, for this game, was a sustained period of possession close to the Newcastle line, the pressure told. Christian the Newcastle hooker was sin binned for offside at a ruck and Barry flopped over the resulting penalty to kill the game at 15-0 after 70 minutes.
One last desperate Newcastle attack was repulsed at a 5-metre line out, then turned into a thrilling break that ended with a knock-on 10 metres from the Newcastle line. After that the play remained in the Newcastle 22 as the fat boys in the scrum exploited their numerical and physical advantage. Driving the Newcastle pack off their own ball the forwards set up a superb attacking position only for Mark Mapletoft to knock-on with a 5 to 3 overlap outside.
Finally the pressure told in the 7th minute of injury time (you always get good value with Mr Speadbury). Newcastle dropped the ball, Paul Sackey kicked through and followed up to score. Barry’s kick was again unsuccessful so the game ended moments later with the score London Irish 20 Newcastle 0.
Some comments in summary:
1) Paul Gustard was my MOM by a country mile. In a game that was made for his style of play he was everywhere (as Stuart Barnes might have said “how many Paul Gustards are there on the pitch”.).
2) Matt Cannon filled the Doctor’s boots admirably in defence, and showed one or two nice side-steps when going forward. A good first appearance in the Premiership proper.
3) In Nick Kennedy we have a line out presence that the opposition fear. By the second half the Newcastle throws were so skew they were practically aimed at the fly half.
4) Newcastle were a poor side and we did what we needed to do to win (and win comfortably).
5) If the friends of the person who shouts “digger!” every time Barry kicks for goal are reading this, you are letting him down big time. By now one of you should have been a true friend and explained that it was not funny the first time. By the fifth time it is the verbal equivalent of body odour.
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