By BrianC
May 23 2005

We end our review of the season with a look at March and April. Two months where relegation threatened and the pressure began to tell.

Our first game in March sees us travelling to Leeds for the Powergen Cup semi-final. This is realistically our last chance of qualifying for the Heineken Cup next season, add to this the mouth watering prospect of a big day out at Twickenham and we have a huge game ahead of us.  Due to a combination of circumstances the kick off was scheduled for 12.15 on Sunday ensuring a minimal crowd and travelling support.

In the end it was a huge disappointment, one of our worst performances of the season saw us go down 15 – 6. My match report was entitled I should Have Gone to That One, this came from a remark made by a fellow supporter in the pub after the game when we were watching the other semi-final. So bad was the on-field performance in fact that the MOTM vote went to ‘The Travelling Support’ who were in good voice despite the result.

The recently positive mood on the board again turns sour.  A thread called That Was Embarrassing just about says it all. In this Greenam Phil writes “That has to be one of the most inept performances we've put together..... and against the team at the bottom of the ZP!!”.  Elsewhere news breaks that Pierre Durrant has been tested positive for cannabis. This he apparently took unwittingly in a cake. Where opinion is voiced on the board it is sceptical.

The following week we travel to Leicester. As is normally the case before our annual trip to Welford Road our hopes are not high for a game that is to be played in front of the Sky TV cameras.  In the end we were defeated 15 – 6 but most were pleased with the performance.

Griff tells the tale in his report So, this 'luck of the Irish' then.... With 13 minutes to go we were only 8 – 6 down when a Mike Horak clearance was charged down and we gifted them a try. Despite the defeat the mood is generally positive. Pride was restored tonight at Welford Road ran the thread, mick o sayner summed up the feelings of many “I feel honour was satisfied and whilst their is a little frustration in that I went there expecting a drubbing, but we could have won had one or two things gone a little differently, but that is the rub of the green.”

We have a two week gap until our next match which is our big ‘Saint Patrick’s’ fixture against Gloucester.  In the meantime Wales beat Ireland convincingly in the last round of the Six Nations to pick up their first grand slam in over twenty years. The general feeling is that it is well deserved.

The story of this years Saint Patrick’s game was similar to the previous two, defeat.  This time we went down 12 – 13 to a very poor Gloucester team in front of a crowd of 17k.  We are without a match report for this game however my memory of it is that despite being poor ourselves we were a tad unlucky. Amongst other things Barry had one shot which bounced off the post.

Losing this game hits us hard. Shaw-shank starts off a thread Gary Gold - please go NOW! with the line “After yet another lamentable performance in front of another huge home crowd of long-suffering Irish supporters, I'm afraid Gary that the time has come for you and the "backs coach" Mr Hull to leave the club.” To make matters worse Leeds have remarkably beaten Leicester so we are back in the thick of the relegation mire. Accusations fly back and forth. The board is not the happiest of places at present.

Again there is another two week gap before our next game. As this is against fellow strugglers and our long term rivals Harlequins at the Stoop tensions are high on both sides before the game and tickets are at a premium.

The relief  is palpable as we run out 20 – 25 victors in this game. Mrs Goz puts together one of the best match reports we have ever had, Don’t Panic Captain Mainwaring ,without the help of any notes. “The whole team came out to applaud the supporters and the relief was evident on their faces too. Anyone who says they don’t care is so, so wrong. Whatever it is that they’ve lacked – be it the mindset or confidence or both stood up and got counted yesterday.”

With Leeds again winning things at the bottom of the table become complex. There are five teams in danger, including ourselves. Vinnie outlines just how complex things have become in a thread titled It Could be Worse! “I'm getting sweaty palms just looking at the table and trying to figure out which team is most likely to be relegated.”

Our game against Bath was originally scheduled for the following week but got put back as they were playing in the Powergen final against Leeds, a game they lost.  Our final home game of the season turns out to be a very close and tense encounter, one which we lose 19 – 21.  Griff, in his match report, again expresses the frustration felt by many supporters “it’s not the losing that gets to you it’s the nearly winning.”

The referee of this game, Ashley Rowden, came in for a lot of criticism on the board.  Even the normally placid OxonRob started a thread Dear Ashley where he outlined the grievances many felt. To his immense credit Ashley turned up on the thread, explained his reasoning and generally gave better than he got.

Despite losing, the bonus point we have picked up is a very valuable one indeed. Given the way the other results went the bookmakers lengthened our odds for relegation from 11/2 to 16/1.  On the Tuesday before our last game all eyes were on Headingley where two of our fellow strugglers Leeds and Quins were playing each other.  Leeds ran out comfortable winners putting Quins into deep trouble. Fortunately for us neither side picked up a bonus point.

The nerves are high as we approach the last game of the season. Shaw-shank’s smilies in the thread entitled Feeling Calm and Relaxed about Saturday just about say it all.

In my years supporting London Irish Saturday 30th April 2005 will go down as one of, if not actually the most tense afternoons I have endured.  The fortunes of the various threatened teams wavered through the afternoon. We took lead at Newcastle only to lose it. Quins came out with all guns blazing at the Stoop and built up a reasonable lead over Sale, again they lost it.  Saints were leading Worcester for most of their game but fell behind shortly before the whistle.

Griff’s match report Not a bang but a whimper conveys some of the tension the travelling support felt, “Suddenly results elsewhere became important. From a 2 point half-time lead Irish were now at the very edge of the all-important losing BP”. We did salvage the BP losing 23 – 16, thus guaranteeing ourselves premiership rugby next season.

When the musical chairs stopped Quins were bottom of the table and, to the surprise of many including this author, were actually relegated.  JimS, in a thread entitled By the skin of our teeth outlined just how tight things were at the end, "If J Staunton had scored that late penalty for Quins and if Newcastle had managed one more score against us we would have finished last."

Thus the 04/05 season has ended with London Irish in 10^th place on 40 points. Not only did we fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup, we just about clung on to our place in the premiership.   It will not go down as one of our better seasons.