Leicester Tigers 25 London Irish 17 - So near and yet so far

Paddy Lennon reports from Welford Road. 

It was a case of so near and yet so far for London Irish atWelford Road yesterday as a courageous and committed Exiles team competed for the full 80 minutes against a Leicester Tigers team that was under pressure to return to winning ways after two successive defeats.

The early morning sunshine that had accompanied Irish on the drive up the M1 gave way to a grey afternoon as the rain-threatening clouds were sent scudding across the East Midlands sky by a bitterly cold wind.  The strong wind was to impact directly on the game as the team playing with it had a distinct advantage.

Irish had to cope the late withdrawl of their captain Bob Casey with a stomach virus that struck overnight.

While the Exiles starting line-up had two changes from the team that defeated Worcester six days earlier – Paul Hodgson at scrum half and James Hudson in for Casey, the Tigers head coach Marcelo Loffreda made 12 changes to the team that lost to Sale as he rotated the impressive resources of his squad.

Leicester kicked-off with the strong wind at their backs and forced Irish to defend inside their 22.  With Christophe Lassucq orchestrating affairs at scrum half the Tigers threatened through the middle and out wide.  Any cobwebs the Exiles’ players may have felt after the journey fromLondon were soon dispelled as they were forced to be at their sharpest.

Irish resisted bravely for seven minutes until the unrelenting attack sucked in numbers into the midfield leaving a gap on the right that was exploited by Tigers’ full back Sam Vesty who raced in for the home team’s first try.  Ian Humphries, who had punished Irish ruthlessly in the same fixture last season, added the extras with a confident kick from near the right touchline.

Irish worked hard to counter-attack and were unlucky to be stopped short when a quickly taken tap-penalty by Paul Hodgson inside the Tigers’ 22 came to nothing.  James Hudson and Nick Kennedy were doing well in the lineout on a difficult day for hookers throwing in the strong wind.

As the half progressed it was Ian Humphries’ tactical kicking that became the dominant feature as he repeatedly used the wind to force Irish to retreat.  Despite being forced back time and again the Exiles’ defence held its line and the Tigers knew they had a fight on their hands.  Declan Danaher worked tirelessly and Seru Rabeni in particular felt the impact.  Delon Armitage also stopped the flying Fijiian and minutes later Jordan Crane when the latter was heading for a certain touch down.

Facing the strong wind Irish tried to make the ball do the work and looked dangerous when running at the Tigers defence at speed.  Seilala Mapusua combined with Shane Geraghty to put width on the Exiles’ attacks.  As it happened it was a break through the midfield in the 24th minute that had the irrepressible Steffon Armitage burst through a gap in the defence and throw a looping pass to Sailosi Tagicakibau on his left.  The Samoan winger had sufficient pace and power to beat the covering Tigers’s defender to score in the left corner.  Delon Armitage’s attempted touchline conversion was caught by the wind and pulled wide of the right upright.

The try boosted Irish’s confidence and they continued to snuffle out Tigers’ attacks in which former All Black Aaron Mauger was outstanding.       

As the half moved into its final ten minutes Delon Armitage gave Irish the lead with a well struck penalty goal in the 33rd minute.  The advantage was to last just two minutes as Humphries responded with a penalty for Tigers.

The half finished with a further burst of action as first Seru Rabeni followed up a clever grubber kick behind the Irish defence by Vesty and just beat Delon Armitage to the touch down.  Humphries missed the conversion.  Armitage was able to reduce the advantage in the final minute of the half with a penalty awarded when Leicester were caught offside and so the half finished with the home team leading 15-11.

Irish had the advantage of the strong wind in the second half and set about exploiting it.  A brilliant reverse kick by Shane Geraghty secured an attacking position for his team in the Tigers’ 22 but the home defence cleared the threat. 

Even in the early stages of the half it was apparent thatLeicesterhad changed tactics and resorted to the forward based driving game that is their hallmark especially at home.  Seru Rabeni was forced to come inside and was dumped ruthlessly by uncompromising tackles by Gonzalo Tiesi and  Paul Hodgson to the extent that the Fijiian had to leave the field temporarily only to be replaced by Tom Varndell who had caused Irish to suffer in the same fixture last season.

Both teams realised that there was everything to play for and the sell-out crowd was treated to ten minutes of really entertaining rugby by both sides.  The Exiles paid the penalty for some poor discipline at the lineout in the 56th minute when Tigers won a second lineout on the Irish five metre line and drove for the line.  A classic pick-and-go sequence by the forwards saw Martin Castrogiovanni dive over for the try.  Humpries failed to add the extras.

Irish responded to the score with another wave of attack which resulted in a penalty 30 metres out in front of the posts.  Armitage struck the ball confidently to reduce the lead to 20-14.  He was to repeat the feat just three minutes later with another excellent penalty kick to bring the score to 20-17 with 18 minutes remaining.

The initiative was with the Exiles and they tried to capitalise but met a strong and capable Tigers’ defence in which Mauger and Dan Hipkiss were quick to capitalise on any attacking opportunity.  When the Leicesterbacks didn’t have the ball it was the forwards that resorted to keeping it tight and driving at Irish.  The basic strategy paid off again in the 72nd minute when after a series of three scrums in the right corner Julian White, who had replaced Boris Stankovich at loose head prop, was driven over for a try which Humphries failed to convert.

Irish lost Seilala Mapusua with an injured hand; he was followed shortly afterwards by Clarke Dermody.  They were replaced by Richard Thorpe and Juan Leguizamon respectively resulting in uncontested scrums.  With time running out the Exiles fought for the field position that would give them a chance of another score but a combination of good defence by the home team and over anxiety meant that it failed to materialise and so the game finished 25-17 with Irish missing out on the losing bonus point that all the commentators felt the team’s performance deserved.      

Scorers: Leicester Tigers: Tries: Vesty (7), Rabeni (39), Castrogiovani (56), White (72); Conversion: Humphreys. Penalty goal:Humphreys (35). London Irish: Try: Tagicakibau (24). Penalty goals: Armitage 4 (33, 40, 59, 62).

Scoring sequence (Leicester first):7-0, 7-5, 7-8, 10-8, 15-8, 15-11 (half-time) 20-11, 20-14, 20-17, 25-17.

Leicester Tigers: 15. S Vesty, 14. J Murphy, 13. D Hipkiss, 12. A Mauger, 11. S Rabeni (rep: T Varndell, 49-54, 69), 10. I Humphries, 9. C Laussucq (rep: F Murphy, 73), 1. B Stankovich (rep: J White, 37), 2. M Davies (rep: B Kayser, 60), 3. M Castrogiovanni, 4. L Deacon (captain), 5. M Wentzel, 6. B Deacon, 7. T Croft, 8. J Crane.

London Irish: 15. D Armitage, 14. T Ojo, 13. G Tiesi, 12. S Mapusua (captain)(rep: R Thorpe, 69), 11. S Tagicakibau, 10. S Geraghty, 9. P Hodgson, 1. C Dermody (rep: J Leguizamon, 73), 2. D Paice, 3. R Skuse (rep: T Lea’aetoa, 56), 4. N Kennedy, 5. J Hudson, 6. D Danaher, 7. S Armitage, 8. P Murphy.

Referee: Mr  Tony Spreadbury (RFU)

Attendance: 17,498

Match Statistics

T C P DG Player         Dermody         Paice         Skuse         Kennedy         Hudson         Danaher         S Armitage         P Murphy         Hodgson         Geraghty 1       Tagicakibau         Mapusua         Tiesi         Ojo     4   D Armitage         Lea'aetoa         Mackie         Johnson         Leguizamon         Thorpe         Fury         Hickey	Position 1. L/Prop 2. Hooker 3. T/Prop 4. Lock 5. Lock 6. B/Flanker 7. O/Flanker 8. No 8 9. Scrum-half 10. Fly-half 11. Wing 12. Centre 13. Centre 14. Wing 15. Fullback 16. Sub 17. Sub 18. Sub 19. Sub 20. Sub 21. Sub 22. Sub	Player T C P DG Stanovich         Davies         Castrogiovanni 1       L Deacon         Wentzel         B Deacon         Croft         Crane         Laussucq         Humphries   1 1   Rabeni 1       Mauger         Hipkiss         Murphy         Vesty 1       Kayser         White 1       Kay         Herring         Murphy         Smith         Varndell