London Irish
A long way since the opening day
By SirBurger
February 12 2013
A cold, muddy game at the start of February against a Saracens side that Irish have failed to beat since September 2010. Considering the conditions and the historical form book, I was not anticipating anything more than a bonus point for the men in green.
The start of the game seemed to be confirming my pre-game fears: the savvy Saracens would be a tough nut to crack and our occasional lack of discipline could well be exploited by one of the Premiership’s best, Charlie Hodgson. Halani Aulika was the first to offend at an early ruck, allowing the former England man to shoot Saracens into an early lead.
However, it was the Tongan terror who was at the heart of all that was good from Irish for the remainder of the second half. He carried effectively and won a series of penalties at the scrum time. Joined by the powerful carrying of his compatriot Chris Hala’Ufia and a welcome return to kicking form from Tom Homer, Irish were able to meet all of Saracens’ blows with strikes of their own. In fact, one of the key elements of the first half was that Irish seemed to be having the better of the tactical kicking battles. Although not pretty on the eye, Ian Humphreys and Homer were effective in keeping the ball in Saracens territory. Great harrying from the likes of Skivington and Sinclair in the pack meant that the usually dominant Saracens set of forwards were not able to get the upper hand. Irish were playing with passion and an impressive midfield defence of Geraghty and Armitage was preventing Saracens from gaining any traction when the ball was released to the wide men. Indeed, with an effective defensive effort, as well as a dominant pack performance, Irish were unlucky to only go in level at 9-9 at half time. Pat Phibbs came closest to going over the whitewash for Irish, scooping to pick the ball up after a superb kick down and chase by Skivington. Unfortunately, with the line at his mercy the Australian knocked the ball on.
The second half started in the same way that the first had ended, with the physicality of the Irish surprisingly outdoing that of Saracens. This was epitomised by a searing break from Hala’Ufia at the start of the half that left a number of Saracens defenders trailing in his wake. An offload to Yarde brought Irish deep into enemy territory and they were rewarded with a penalty to Homer. The full back duly obliged to give Irish the lead.
When Saracens did make their way into the Irish half they were scuppered by superb tackling and excellent work at the breakdown from some unlikely sources: Aulika, Ojo and even Ian Humphreys doing their bit to compete for the ball on the floor. Eventually, the sheer intensity of the London Irish effort in defence reaped its reward, with late call up Shane Geraghty latching onto a misplaced pass from former London Irish player Nils Mordt to race in for a try. It was just reward for a performance that highlighted Geraghty’s growing importance to the side, especially in a defensive capacity: an area that has never previously been an obvious strength of his.
Saracens returned at Irish with renewed vigour and although rewarded with a slightly fortuitous try through David Strettle, Irish cancelled this out within minutes thanks to some great work by Topsy Ojo. His ambitious offload over the back of the head found replacement Ofisa Treviranus, who raced down the touchline to score. This immediate response halted any chance of Saracens stealing the momentum and was fine testament of the impact that all the Irish bench made: Treviranus, Gibson and Moates in particular doing some sterling work in defence.
The game was now gone for Saracens and the more they forced play, the less they were rewarded. A number of forward passes and knock-ons prevented any chance of a late comeback. The pressure of London Irish’s defence certainly played a large part in the number of errors made by Saracens and much praise deserves to go to Brian Smith, who seems to have worked wonders with the defensive system he inherited from Shaun Edwards.
The players have come a long way from those that got beaten 40-3 on the opening day of the season. Saracens, even without their internationals, are formidable opponents. London Irish needed to win ugly on Saturday and they did. Over the years, I have derived immense pleasure from seeing the Exiles take teams to the cleaners playing scintillating Rugby, typified by offloads, miss-passes and hard, direct running. However, those victories, like Saturday, where it is sheer guts and power of will that gets the team the ‘W’ are by far and away the most satisfying.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon12/02/2013 04:10
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
