London Irish
Jaws III - The Great Escape
By davidg
November 1 2010
Sunday 31st October dawned wet and miserable in South Surrey, the only upside being the extra hour of sleep afforded by the return of GMT. On a more positive rugby note all that was needed today was a winning margin of eleven or more points for the team to regain top of the table, above the Saints. Suitably uplifted by this thought and cheered by the news from Wiltshire that it was “cloudy but dry” (thanks Chris), your novice reporter set off for Reading by train.
Arrive in Reading courtesy of SWT and yes, you guessed it, tipping down with rain. Curious happenings on the bus to the Mad Stad which made a swift U-turn and gave the passengers a free mystery tour to the stadium via the old Basingstoke Road. A few Sale supporters had also shown up and clearly folk were getting into the spirit of the day judging by the costumes on display. The Reels provided excellent music over a few drinks and finally into the stadium where my notes confirm that the squad was pumped up and very vocal during the warm-up near the East Stand. Caimh then set a new record for fastest team announcement ever (Sale) before the Irish player photos produced some extra laughs on account of the costumes donned by some.
On to the game itself and great to see Tom Homer back in the starting 15. Early play suggests that Sale are not just making up the numbers and they take an early lead from a penalty. Scrappy period of play sees Irish level after 10 minutes with a Lamb penalty only for the home team to fall behind again after conceding a contentious penalty for deliberate knock on in 13th minute. The omens are not looking good at this stage but in the 20th minute the Sale scrum finally get pinged for standing up. From the resulting penalty a safe touch is found but the line-out is then lost and the advantage swings Sale’s way. Homer then shows real class, cutting through the middle of the pitch to secure a strong field position near the opposition 22, but is injured in the process. After lengthy treatment he elects to continue and his attacking example appears to have galvanised the side into more positive action. Tom then leaves the pitch to generous applause and is replaced by Malone. An impressive series of “pick and drive” moves by the pack eventually yields another penalty which Lamb duly puts over to level the scores at 6 all. On 30 minutes Lamb shows great skill in cutting through the Sale defence to touch down near the posts and follows up by adding the conversion. The Sharks then applied considerable pressure and only stout Irish tackling and defence keeps them at bay. More worrying times for the home side when the 22 drop-out goes out on the full leaving Sale with a strong attacking scrum in front of the posts. Fortunately Irish are able to break away up field which ultimately leads to Joseph’s fine try in the corner created by a long pass and then some deft footwork on his part. The conversion goes just wide but 18-6 seems a satisfactory lead to hold at half time
Second half opens and the team carry on from where they left off before the break, despite a raft of Sale replacements in the back row. Sustained Irish pressure sees Lamb add a drop goal to his collection of points, and things look even more rosy when Stowers crosses for a try in the left corner after several phases of possession to put us 26-6 ahead. Earlier worries and concerns about that 11 point winning margin had now been dispelled – or had they? The real horror of Halloween was about to unravel........ as multiple Irish substitutions took place: within 3 minutes Dermody and Mapasua had both been replaced, and poor defence allows Sale back into the game with a converted try. Further Irish replacements follow but really, no need to panic, as the 11 point margin is still safe. However, Mr Fox next becomes villain of the piece by awarding a series of penalties to Sale, resulting in 6 more points, and another nail is seemingly driven into our coffin by the veteran Cohen’s converted try which levels the scores at 26 all. At this point most of the crowd would have been more than happy to settle for a single score to take the win. With little more than 10 minutes to play Lamb steadies the ship with 2 further penalties, the 2nd a massive effort from the half-way line, and restores a six point lead. There follows a frenetic period of play during which a converted try could make all the difference to either side – Irish propelled back to the top of the table with a winning 5 point bonus or condemned to 2nd place and just a single losing bonus point. Real nail-biting stuff and with the clock wound right down to show 00.00 there is one final twist in the tail. Just when you thought it was safe to leave the stadium (get the Jaws link there?) Mr Fox restores himself to a few supporters’ Christmas card lists by first awarding a penalty to Irish, who elect to play the ball, but then on TJ’s advice gives another one to Sale for crossing. Throwing caution to the wind, and rather than settle for the losing BP, they opt to run the ball out of their 22 - only to deliver the deciding pass of the game to the ever vigilant Joseph, who gleefully scampers over for the 4th and BP securing try. Final score 39-26 and no finger nails left at all! Paul Hodgson is named as MOM (one or two puzzled expressions around me when this was announced) and the team takes a well-deserved mini lap of honour.
Reflecting on the way home by train what were the positives from the day? The return to fitness of Tom and Steff; the form of Ryan; Jonathan’s two tries; half time entertainment/parade for kids of all ages; the band in the Craic before and after the match; return to the top of the table (a really important psychological boost for the team and supporters). And negatives? Well, most of minutes 50 through to 70 when we shipped 20 unanswered points; baffling officials’ decisions throughout the game and don’t even get me started on the buses back to the station.....! All in all an entertaining day, but not as one would have expected.
(BTW Match reporting certainly restricts AG consumption)
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Essentially by choosing not to end the match when we had the chance(s) we risked losing 3 league points to earn one more, which is certainly not playing the percentages game and not what most people would think is common sense in a league contest. However, the risk paid off and maybe what this says about the character and attitude of the team is a great positive signal as regards where we ultimately finish this season. If you have the ability throw caution to the wind!
Sale of course are similarly guilty of this attitude. By not belting the ball into the stands from the last penalty they risked and lost their point (and allowed us to earn our BP for which Saints will be very pleased, not) in trying to earn a further three - and but for JJ's interception would have probably been pulled off with their 4 man overlap. Though the prize to regret ratio was in their favour unlike for us.
Loved the Hawai 5 O
