By LKR
November 3 2014

Certainly for us supporting London Irish is about more than 80 minutes of rugby on the pitch. Even though the Madstad was quieter than usual, we were still able to find friends and have a chat pre-game – catching up with people we see every week or so for 8-9 months of the year and with whom we have experienced many highs and lows.There also was space to get into the Megastore and look at the new clothing ranges – there was a lot to choose from (even if the onesie wasn’t to your taste) but unfortunately I don’t have DanR43’s excuse of growing out of things to be able to replace LI clothing with a new version.

This week we were joined in the stands by four ‘newbies’ using our free tickets and a Tigers fan (Is it bad that we made her pay for her ticket – it was only a £10 one!), as well as the people we sit with each week. As the players came out to warm up it was exciting to see the youngsters we have watched over the past couple of years in AASE, U18 and A league games, prepare for their first team debut (part of our ‘more than 80 minutes’ of first team rugby experience.) The Tigers fan admired our real wolfhound – well they couldn’t have a real tiger walking round the pitch, although I guess it would make it easier getting a space on the terrace at Welford Road.
Onto the actual 80 minutes – Tigers were awarded a penalty within a minute. Perhaps the almost luminous nature of their kit on the screen had put our players off, but the score was 0-3. There were a number of penalties early on, with Irish choosing to go for the corner on many occasions. The only other thing I noted was a couple of very positive contributions from Cam Cowell (one of our debutants). Adam Thompstone was given a yellow card (as he is an Irish old boy I have to say it was for repeated team offences rather than anything heinous he had learned in the Tiger’s Lair.) However, after a lot of Irish pressure, Tigers cleared their line from a penalty from a line out. Then about 25 minutes in, a Tigers player broke away and Miles Benjamin scored – possession (unfortunately for Irish) counts for nothing if it doesn’t lead to points on the scoreboard. With the score at 0 -10, when Irish won a penalty about five minutes later, Myles went for the posts and the score was 3 -10. This was how the half finished.
Half time entertainment was a game of charades on the pitch with people in the stands shouting the answers and some nice snacks brought and kindly shared around us. However it seemed to go quickly as for some reason the queues seemed long despite relatively few people being there (all the free/cheap tickets must have been used in our area).
My notes for the second half seem to be dominated by substitutions – our academy boys should be really proud that Richard Cockerill is reported (Sporting Life match report) as saying in a post match interview ‘they (Irish)brought the cavalry on and we (Leicester)brought the academy on." when we had five academy players who came on from the bench, four of whom were making their debuts, and only three first team players (admittedly they only had two first teamers). In between these substitutions, Irish pressure led to a penalty and another yellow card for a Tigers player and two more successful kicks from Myles had Irish within a point at 9 -10. With about 15 minutes remaining, Tigers player Roberto Barbieri picked up a loose ball around half way and ran under the posts to score, which with the conversion, made the score 9 -17. More substitutions were made but Irish continued to apply pressure and were held up over the line. Just a few minutes later, Irish were rewarded with a try from Guy Armitage after the ball was passed out from the reset scrum by Connor Murphy (another player on debut). Much to the concern of the Tiger in our midst, Irish kept on fighting but in the end Tigers won a penalty and kicked the ball out to claim a one point victory. It was more like a usual result against Tigers than the win at Welford Road earlier in the season when we had enjoyed the win for much more than 80 minutes - both at the ground and in a local restaurant.
The rugby experience wasn’t over just because the final whistle had blown. We went up to the bar to warm up for a while and although JonR43 went into the Princess Suite briefly we didn’t stay long as we had visitors with us. We headed out to our usual spot by the car park and discussed the game with many supporters – those standing with us and others heading off to their cars. After waiting a while, much to her delight, our newbie friends’ daughter was able to get many players autographs. It is certainly a big part of the ‘more than 80 minutes’ that our players are so willing to stop, chat and sign autographs. A big thank you to all those players and coaches who did so, even pausing their own conversations and phone calls to sign her programme.
Despite the result of the 80 minutes on the pitch, it was a lot more than just 80 minutes today as we saw the debuts of five of the next group of academy players, who, along with others, will ensure that we have lots more 80 minute matches (plus all that goes with them) to come in the future.