By Loobs
May 11 2003

Following on from the victory over Leicester last week, this game was to prove to be the relegation decider and every bit as nail biting as everybody had feared Mark ‘Tofty’ Mapletoft keeping the no. 10 shirt over Barry Everitt and Rob Hoadley keeping his place at 12 were the main talking point of the team selection pre-match. There was much fear in the ranks of the supporters with talk of sleepless nights and even more excessive consumption of Guinness than normal in some quarters.

The crowds were gathering from around 10AM yesterday at what was then a sunny Madejski, although the promised rain made a very fleeting appearance, it was a dry windy day, good for running rugby. This led to speculation of the running powers of Drahm, Gibson and Christophers being put to full use by Bristol.

Bristol took the field first to thunderous applause from the sizeable travelling support, a lot of whom had travelled because there was every possibility that this would be the last time that they would see Bristol play in the Premiership or possibly see Bristol play as Bristol ever again. Given the pride and passion on view, not just from the stands, any possibility of the second should be strongly resisted.

When the boys in green took the field, the stadium erupted, those seated in the East commented that for perhaps the first time ever, the Westies could be heard.

The game started at, what for this commentator, a frantic pace for Irish. Right from the off, the forwards were pressuring the Bristol line, but as we have seen so many times before, no points were coming. Indeed, the first score came from Bristol’s first foray into the Irish half with Drahm slotting a long range penalty. It was evident that he wasn’t going to miss anything, would he be the one to nail Irish hopes?

With 17 minutes on the clock, Drahm converted a Craig Short try to leave Irish trailing 0-10. Another Leeds, I thought. Oh how sweet to be proven so wrong. Tofty was having none of it! The back line was being driven in a manner that has not been seen for some time and suddenly the momentum that was being gained by the forwards was acting as the platform it should have been all season. The recycling was back, Geoff Appleford was pinning back his ears and going for gaps, Rob Hoadley was looking to skip past rather than take the man out, Paul Sackey was getting ball in space, phenomenal stuff. Laa Laa Hardwick was kicking ass all over the shop, Strudders was back to full chat and is starting to make the Strudders/Casey combo look like a real threat for next season. Please God, don’t let either of them get injured.

Mike Worsley played his last game in the spirit of all the rest of the team and was roundly applauded and received a warm handshake from Conor, who had come to the line to meet him when he was replaced early in the second half. We wish you well at Quins, Mike, just don’t go scoring tries against us!

In the scrum, Bristol were struggling, but were nicking lineout ball, what a cheek! My view is that the referee and touch judges were extremely lenient on throwing in straight.

A tap penalty led to the first try for Irish, scored by Naka and converted by Tofty to open his account. He was to net 16 points in total.

If anything this seemed to galvanise Bristol, who seemed to camp in the Irish half for the next ten minutes. They were rewarded with a penalty for a high tackle by Tofty according to Mr. Spreadbury, I thought it was Hoads, which Drahm converted, 7 – 13.

One thing was evident though, Irish were seriously up for this one. As Pichot would receive the ball, he would get a millisecond, then be hit. Danaher, Dawson, Naka, O’ Sheas all had a pop. Poor old Contepomi did his best, but as Irish supporters know only too well, if the pack is going backwards, the 3/4‘s always struggle.

Gibson looked dangerous in the middle as did Christophers, who is, in my opinion, still one of the finest players I have seen. Still, he will be feeling the effects of the tackles today. I think he will have imprints of Paul Sackey’s hands on him today. Paul ran very close to being MOTM, but that was one of the hardest calls of all in this game. Much to the delight of most of the 12,696 crowd, Conor picked Tofty.

With the back line firing on all cylinders, the gaps which always appear in the opposition line were now being exploited. To great effect by all of the runners. Kevin Barrett had a stormer, he put in some mighty tackles, one in particular on Short on the East Stand touchline was memorable.

The game was effectively won in the last 10 minutes of the first half, with Irish piling on 17 points with Hoadley scoring under the posts after serious pressure in the corner, some yard-making by Naka to take the game right to the line, then the recycle to Tofty to put Rob in. He came out clutching the LI crest on his shirt, that meant a lot to him. Tofty added the conversion and a penalty before a well-worked move saw Sackey release to Appleford to score the first of his brace for the afternoon. Tofty again obliged with the conversion.

Paul Sackey deservedly scored a trademark Sackey try in the second half. A loose pass went to ground, two kicks ahead and the flat-out chase to the line. There was only ever going to be one winner, an ecstatic crowd singing Sackey, Sackey, Sackey told the casual observer all they needed to know. This was the Try Bonus Point try and doubled the Irish account for the season.

Rob Hoadley sustained an injury which resulted in his being carried from the pitch. Barry Everitt came to take over the no. 10 slot with Tofty moving in to the inside centre berth. It may have been coincidental, but this seemed to spur a slackening of the attacking momentum and allowed the Bristol defence to counter more effectively.

A fifth Irish try was scored by Mike Horak as a gap of Red Sea proportions opened in front of him as he sold the dummy to Sackey to the Bristol defence. Off Mike went driven on by the willpower and cheering from the Irish supporters to cross the line on the west side of the south try line. Tofty converted.

Bristol scored a consolation try to leave the final score London Irish 41 – Bristol Shoguns 21.

Much analysis can and will be made of the game, however from an Irish supporter viewpoint, there was a result to be achieved and it was. End of story. The season is over, on to the next one.

There were contrasting scenes in the stands and on the pitch as the Irish players and supporters were in raptures of delight, whilst the Bristol players and supporters hit the depths of despair. With Bath pulling a victory out over Newcastle, Bristol were condemned on points difference.

In the Cowshed afterwards, the LISC Awards were presented. In the serious categories, Naka Drotske won Supporters Player of the Season, whilst Nick Kennedy was the recipient of the Best Newcomer Award sponsored by St. Clare’s Travel and presented by MD Tony Byrne.

A presentation of a top of the range stethoscope (with LI green tubes) was made to Brendan Venter to thank him for all of his work with the team and for him to remember us all by. Brendan was visibly moved and was at pains to thank all of the supporters for the memories we have given him. I’m sure green wigs and drums were high on that list.

London Irish: M Horak (E Thrower, 82); P Sackey, G Appleford, R Hoadley (B Everitt, 56), K Barrett; M Mapletoft, H Martens; M Worsley (N Hatley, 45), N Drotske (A Flavin, 80), R Hardwick (S Halford, 45), R Strudwick (capt), B Casey (K Roche, 72), D Danaher, C Sheasby, K Dawson.

Bristol: S Drahm; D Rees, A Higgins, D Gibson (capt), P Christophers; F Contepomi, A Pichot (P Hodgson, 80); A Sheridan, P Johnstone (S Nelson, 52), E Bergamaschi (R Skuse, 47), S Morgan, A Brown, C Short, R Oakley, M Lipman.

Referee: T Spreadbury (Somerset).