By BrianC
May 7 2006

There was a strange feeling in the air as we gathered at the Madejski for our last home game of the 2005/6 season. Off the top of my head I can think of a number of factors.

It was strange in that there weren't the nerves of recent seasons. Fear of relegation has been such a constant factor in recent years. It was strange in that other than honour neither side had anything to play for. It was even more strange that in the aftermath of last weeks craicing victory at Wasps it was bound to be something of an anticlimax. Such games only come around once every five years or so. So it proved to be. We saw 'only' four tries and watched a game that was in the balance until close to the death.

I took my seat next to Barbara, she is a Quins and Munster supporter. Some of you may know her from either the Quins site or her occasional visits to the messageboard on here. Amongst other things we discussed the nature of the rugby family and how comfortable a visiting supporter could feel at any other clubs ground. She told me that following the multi-coloured ones in ND1 has been fun but left me in no doubt that she and her fellow Quins supporters were relishing their return to the Premiership.

This was Awesome Dawson's 200th game for the club, also his last. He led the team out and appeared to find the emotion of the event quite overcoming. No surprise really. He has been such a stalwart of our club in good and bad times down the years. Things just won't seem the same without him around.

From an LI point of view the game got off to a bad start. After initial spells in both halfs on five minutes Sarries were pressing our line. Sean Davey signaled advantage to them for a high tackle. Whilst this call seemed a tad harsh to me it turned out to make no difference. A missed tackle, by Delon I think, allowed Dan Harris under our posts. This was duly converted, we were 7 - 0 down after five minutes.

It was at this stage that Eek realised I was doing the match report. He chose to inform me that due to some problem with all the band being present in time - goodness knows why - the Cowshed was entertained pre-match by "Pete Cutter and the Bogtrotters", Brian on banjo, Chris on drums and Eek of course on the triangle. After pressure from some of those around him Eek was forced to admit that he had forgotten the words to the fields. This he blamed on having the words on a sheet in from of him rather than having to work from memory. Hmmmmm.....

In the meantime Sarries picked up three points, it was 0 - 10 after twelve minutes. This seemed to be the wake up call we needed as it seemed that the boys stepped up a gear. Our first try came twenty minutes into the game, almost from our own line. Thomas Castaignede, who was my man of the match, had broken free and another Sarries try looked to be on. After a last ditch tackle he spilt the ball. It was picked up not far from our own line by Richard Skuse who amazed me by running through a swathe of Sarries players then offloading to Delon on our 10M line. Dilly then did the simple (for him) job of  running the remaining sixty meters, skirting past a couple of defenders and putting the ball down.

By the standards of this seasons London Irish games the next ten minutes or so were on the dull side. We exchanged a penalty each but other than spectacular breaks and near many missed tries from both sides not a lot happened. We were very lucky not to have a penalty try given against us when that man Castaignede looked through under the posts again. He had kicked forward and was running to touch the ball down, which he would have done, when Le Geezer pulled him back. Geezer got a yellow card and Sarries a penalty. Arguably this stroke of luck was the turning point in the game.

The Fez Boys chose not to take the points. With a one man advantage they went for the scrum. This is where most of the crowd, on both sides including myself, lost patience with our referee, Sean (Wavey) Davey, he reset the scrum countless times. Now I know there is a lot at stake when one team is camped on the other's line but hopefully sooner rather than later a decision should be made. Wavey's pickiness at this period, and indeed through the whole match, no doubt contributed to the anticlimax previously mentioned.

Eventually the ball spilled out our way. A couple of quick passes saw the ball passed to Dilly in midfield. It was nothing really, dance round a couple of defenders and pop the ball down, with the conversion we took the lead, we're sort of used to this now. My mind drifted back to similar occasions in previous season where the ball has been spilt with the line begging and I shuddered. Seven minutes left to half time on the countdown clock and we are 15 - 13 up.

At this stage I have a confession to make. The pre-match refreshments had taken their toll. Whilst I wanted to hold on to half time I decided that a trip to the urinal was essential rather than optional. As I walked past those between the steps and me I ordered them not to let anyone score. So much for such orders. As I was under the stand easing the pressure on my bladder I heard an almighty cheer and the announcer say "Topsy Ojo". Kicking myself I returned to my seat to be told "You missed a great try Brian". Thanks mate!

In the last few minutes before HT it was all Sarries. They had a try disallowed because of a forward pass. I couldn't tell from my angle but those down there felt it was a harsh call. Wavey may have been incompetent, at least he was being more incompetent in our favour than Sarries. We went in at half time 22 - 13 up.

The second half started with Baz the boot on in place of Magic Flutey. After a couple of minutes Castaignede again showed his class and his ass to the London Irish defence as he broke free from the middle of the field to put the ball down. The conversion was missed but with the score at 22 - 18 this game was too close to call.

Most of the following period went past in a blur. This was two good teams, with class players, running at each other. My notes show occasions for both sides where tries looked on but were lost/stopped at the last gap. In better conditions and with a different referee the score could have been similar to that at Wasps the previous week. As we ended the third quarter Bazza gave us another three points after Sarries were pinged for offside, it was 25 - 18.

To their credit Sarries didn't buckle, they turned the screws and had us in our own half for much of the last quarter. Their pack had strength and looked set to push us over a couple of times. What they seemed to lack from my standpoint was technique. This season we have all seen LI move the ball from a messy or static rolling maul out wide and into the hands of a winger with the whitewash at his disposal. Sarries just didn't seem to have such a "Plan B". On several occasions I saw a line of frustrated backs, with the line begging, screaming for the ball.

With five minutes to go word came through that Wasps had won. We were under the cosh and would face any away trip to Sale if we lost. Worse it would have been an early kick off. Out of nowhere Topsy broke loose and ran most of the field to put the ball down. Barry missed the conversion but it didn't matter. We won 30 - 18.

As a game I don't know how much we can take from it. What I will say without reservation is that this is the best London Irish team I have ever seen. There is a confidence, a feeling of  'can do' around he pitch that I have not witnessed in the ten odd years I have been actively supporting this club. At third we have ended in our highest ever position but what is happening appears to be more than that. The importance of the victory last week against Wasps cannot be overstated. Having faced up to and beaten arguably the country's top club of this decade on their home turf we don't need to be afraid of anyone.

It was a strange match indeed and it still feels strange.... We've played our last league game of the season and we still have two or three more to go.