By Griff
October 23 2014

The "brand-new" European Challenge Cup started for London Irish with expected group whipping-boys Rovigo visiting the MadStad for the opening game. Pre-match supporter expectations varied from "we're going to thump them" to "could be a banana skin". Would Irish be able to give their campaign a bit of mometnum in the opener?

In front of an even-emptier-than-normal Madsjski both teams took the field and observed a minute-silence for Stuart Gallacher of Scarlets and Welsh Rugby. It seemed a bit odd - I'm sure Mr Gallacher was rugby through and through and probably a top bloke but with no local connection (other than just rugby) it just seemed a bit crow-barred in. It was impecably observed, an advantage of a small crowd.

From the off it was clear that this was a bit of a mismatch, those fearing banana-skins could breathe easy. Irish's first try came from, as Caimh is prone to mention, London Irish's all-time leading try-scorer Topsy Ojo who crossed the whitewash in Poo Corner after only a few minutes of play. Myles Dorrian added the extras in what was to become something of a trend.

Irish seemed to relax and take their foot off the gas once the early try was theirs, a further 20 minutes passed without troubling the scorer, Rovigo weren't making much progress but the home-side were contriving to squander chances as the team, which hadn't played together much, failed to hit its straps. The Romanian referee, the impressively named Vlad Lordachescu, seemed to have an issue with Irish's front-row often penalising the home-side which meant knock-ons were regularly a pressure-release for the visitors. Sir was, it's nice to report, not too bad at all. My only complaint was that I couldn't tell what he was punishing here. Since he's not the first to pick something up I can only assuem Glen Delaney and his team have something to work-on.

The second came from Dorrian himself after a fantastic break from debutant Eoin Griffin after which the Irishman managed to off-load to his fly-half who touched-down and then converted.

This seemed to remind Irish they were allowed to score with a brace of tries in quick succession, both to Ojo - giving him a hat-trick. The first made by Kieran Low bursting through the middle, followed by Topsy Ojo streaking through on the switch to bag his second. The second was a fantanstic piece of individual skill with Topsy dancing just inside the right touch-line. Myles picked-up the extras for both. The bonus-point was in the bag by half-time.

The trend continued after the break with Eoin Griffin taking advantage of a break by Dan Leo to get Irish's fifth try - and his first for the club - again converted by Dorrian.

Rovigo showed some intent after this and were soon pushing into the Irish half and from a 5m line-out pushing over for their first score, full-back Stefan Bossan made his kick to bring the visitors into the game at 35 - 7.

It wasn't a revival, though, as Irish then closed the gaps anf returned the pressure. Leo Halavatau scored with almost his first touch of the ball. Kieran Low followed him, the flanker looking for someone to off-load to and when nobody was available simply scoring it himself. Tom Guest picked from the base of the scrum and made it over the line for another and Dan Leo topped-off a fine game with one of his own. In what was becoming predictable, despite most of the tries being scored out-wide, Dorrian converted them all.

The Exiles final try came froma superb run from James Short, the winger covering most of the length of the pitch with an almost super-human burst of speed to score his team's tenth try. Dorrian finished his day off with a perfect record making the two points.

Late in the game Rovigo gave one final rally and gave themselves a bit of pride with almost a mirror-image of their other try - a push-over from a 5m line-out on the other side of the pitch. Faraloni made himself the third kicker of the day with 100% conversion attempts.

I'm not sure I can remember a game I've seen where the only points scored were converted tries. It was perhaps one of the only remarkable things about the game which was a bit of a mauling for the visitors. The away game will be a different proposition I expect with the Italians fighting for pride but from the opening exchanges there was really only ever going to be one winner.