Paddy Lennon reports from Welford Road, Leicester.
At 85 years old this season, this fixture between London Irish and Leicester Tigers ranks among the oldest in the Exiles’ 110 year history. While the overall record of victories in the 44 games played between the two clubs lies firmly in Tigers favour at 37 to 7, rarely will the thousands of passionate and knowledgeable fans at Welford Road have seen such a display of character and courage from a London Irish team as they did yesterday afternoon.
That the Exiles’ players had to dig deep and display a mature mentality with which they have not been associated in the past speaks volumes about how the players are developing both individually and as a team. An example of this was the way the team responded to the late withdrawl of Nick Kennedy, the last of the club’s four recognised lock forwards to be available, due to illness.
Kennedy’s absence meant unexpected promotion from the replacements bench to starting XV for Nic Rouse, a 27-year-old lock forward on loan from Nottingham. Rouse, who only had four days training with the squad this week, did himself and his club credit. His partnership with Gary Johnson in the second row worked tirelessly throughout the 50 minutes he was involved in the game.
This was the second round of Guinness Premiership matches played under the ELVs and ‘work in progress’ is as relevant a description as one can apply to the way the laws are being actioned by the players and interpreted by the match officials. Yesterday’s referee, Mr White, was more active with his whistle that last week’s set of officials at Twickenham with the result that the number of penalties and free kicks increased significantly.
As a result the players on both teams struggled to impose a pattern on the game and long sequences of multi-phase play were a rarity, a disappointment given that the warm and sunny autumn afternoon provided ideal conditions for attacking rugby.
The opening exchanges were even with first the Tigers, then Irish, testing each other’s defences. The strengths of Peter Hewat and Geordan Murphy’s kicking game was in evidence as each in turn sent relieving clearances down the pitch. It was another attempted clearance kick by Topsy Ojo in the 10th minute that led to the first score. Ojo’s kick from inside his 22 was collected by Toby Flood in space on his left wing. TheEnglandinternational moved into midfield and passed to Geordan Murphy speeding up on his right. With the Irish defence stretched, the full back raced through to touch down under the posts. Flood converted for a 7-0 lead.
The converted try led to a period of concerted pressure by Leicester. The Exiles’ set pieces, for so long a consistent feature of their game, were stretched by the unrelenting efforts of the experienced Leicester pack.
In the 19th minute Irish were awarded a penalty six metres inside their half, Eoghan Hickey stepped up and sent the ball torpedo –like between the posts for his team’s first score.
Any relief was short lived as Leicester attacked relentlessly. Irish were under severe pressure in the scrum, a series of three collapsing at close range before the Tigers’ captain Aaron Mauger opted for a penalty kick at goal which Flood missed from a scoring position.
An error- ridden passage of play by both teams ensued with neither getting the upper hand until the 28th minute when another 65 metre kick by Hewat took play deep into the home 22. Irish were awarded a scrum, Paul Hodgson picked up at the base and moved the ball left to Seilala Mapusua, his flighted pass was snatched out of the air by Steffon Armitage who scored out on the left. Hewat added the extras with a wonderful kick from just inside the touchline to give Irish a 10-7 lead.
Steffon Armitage turned from hero to villain in the space of a minute as he conceded a penalty from the re-start. Fortunately Flood’s kick bounced off the left upright.
As the half drew to a close Irish had to endure another series of attacking scrums just short of their try line. The first three collapsed, the next two resulted in free kicks to Leicester before Harry Ellis decided to take a tap penalty at the third. He was tackled illegally by Hickey just a few metres from the line and the fly half departed to the sin-bin. Mauger opted to kick the resulting penalty which Flood sent between the uprights to leave the score level at the break.
Four minutes into the second half Irish regained the lead when an attempted quick lineout throw by Tom Varndell went horribly wrong. He passed to Geordan Murphy whose attempted clearance was blocked by Danie Coetzee. The ball bounced into the hands of the onrushing Mapusua who capped a fine game with a deserved try. Once again Hewat added the extras with an excellent kick from out on the left.
Trailing by seven points there could be only one response from the home team. Urged on by the Welford Road crowd, the Tigers attacked forcing Irish to defend bravely. Steffon Armitage robbed Geordan Murphy of the ball at the breakdown just when Tigers had men lined up to continue the attack. But the pressure was telling.
In the 56th minute a beautifully judged grubber kick behind the Irish defence by flanker Ben Herring was seized by his fellow back row Tom Croft for a try on the left. Flood kicked the conversion to level the score once again.
Realising that the initiative was with them the home team raised the pace of the game as the match entered its final quarter. With the crowd behind them the Tigers pressed. Julien Dupuy replaced Ellis at scrum half and upped the threat from that source.
Irish introduced David Paice, Declan Danaher, Jon Fisher, Dan Murphy and Peter Richards as fresh legs were essential to hold the Exiles’ position. The tireless Gary Johnson managed to steal a Leicester lineout and Hewat was unlucky to have a drop goal attempt drift wide.
A long range clearance kick by Hickey went straight into touch resulting in a Leicester lineout just outside the Irish 22. The excellent Marcos Ayerza secured the ball and burst through the Irish defence before passing to Herring who powered over under the posts. Flood had the easiest of conversions to give his team a crucial seven point lead with 14 minutes remaining.
In the 69th minute Irish were awarded a penalty when Leicester offended at a scrum but Hewat’S kick drifted left of the left upright. Three minutes later Flood also missed with a penalty for Tigers.
Both teams were going all out for the score that would settle the match and there was much to admire in the unrelenting commitment and pace with which they set about doing so.
With two minutes remaining Leicester were attacking down their right. Jordan Crane lost control of the ball and Peter Richards hacked it on. He followed up and collected the ball and in a moment of class that only comes from experience at the top level, delayed the pass to confuse the home defence. He then found the excellent Mapusua speeding through, his pace and excellent line of attack stretched the defence even more before he passed to Delon Armitage who raced through to touch down out on the right. Hewat missed the difficult touchline conversion and so the score remained at 24-22 to the Tigers. Irish finished strongly but were unable to create another scoring opportunity.
Scorers.Leicester Tigers: Tries: Murphy G (10), Croft (56), Herring (66); Conversions: Flood 3. Penalty goal: Flood (38). London Irish: Tries: Armitage S (28), Mapusua (44), Armitage D (78); Conversions: Hewat 2. Penalty goal: Hickey (19).
Scoring sequence(Leicester first): 7-0, 7-3, 7-10, 10-10 (half-time) 10-17, 17-17, 24-17, 24-22.
Leicester Tigers: 15. G Murphy, 14. T Varndell, 13. D Hipkiss (rep: J Murphy, 8-24, 50), 12. A Mauger (captain), 11. M Smith, 10. T Flood, 9. H Ellis (rep: J Dupuy, 60), 1. M Ayerza, 2. G Chuter (rep: B Kayser, 50), 3. J White, 4. R Blaze (rep: R Blaze, 23), 5. B Kay, 6. T Croft, 7. B Herring (rep: B Woods, 76), 8. J Crane.
London Irish: 15. P Hewat, 14. T Ojo, 13. D Armitage, 12. S Mapusua, 11. Tagicakibau, 10. E Hickey (sin-bin: 38-48)(rep. E Sevealii, 73), 9. P Hodgson (captain)(rep: P Richards, 50), 1. T Lea’aetoa (A Corbisiero, h-t), 2. D Coetzee (rep: D Paice, 58), 3. F Rautenbach (rep: T Lea’aetoa, 43)(rep: D Murphy, 64), 4.N Rouse (rep: J Fisher, 50), 5. G Johnson, 6. R Thorpe, 7. S Armitage, 8. C Hala’Ufia (rep: D Danaher, 64).
Referee: C White (RFU)
Attendance: 15,871