London Irish 16 London Wasps 22 - Records and Disappointment

Paddy Lennon reports from Madejski Stadium.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for London Irish yesterday as the club hosted its annual St Patrick’s celebration match at Madejski Stadium

A new Guinness Premiership club record crowd of 23,709 almost filled the superb Reading stadium to capacity but a high penalty count against the home team contributed to a disappointing outcome to a hard fought match for the thousands of Exiles' supporters.

For the second year in succession London Irish raised the bar as far as club record attendances in this country is concerned.  The “sold out” announcement on Friday was recognition that advance ticket sales had reached the stadium capacity (23,700) approved for rugby matches this season.  This figure is below the official capacity (24,100) because London Irish operates an unreserved seating policy in the South Stand.

Supporters turned up in their thousands bedecked in all shades of green with some very creative head wear, the latter essential on an afternoon when a very cold wind from the north-west whirled around the stadium.  Not that the chill affected the enthusiasm of the celebrations or diminished the noise levels both outside and within the stadium.

The decibel level in the stadium bowl pre-match augured well for the impending action on the pitch as both sets of fans anticipated 80 minutes of action that was to impact crucially on the prospects of both teams in the race for end of season league positions.

Irish got off to the best possible start.  Showing enterprise in attack they forced Wasps to defend in the opening minutes.  In the third minute Seilala Mapusua orchestrated an attacking move down the left, a quick, flat pass found its way to Peter Hewat who side-stepped and threw the Wasps defence off balance, before racing in to score just left of the posts.  Eoghan Hickey missed the conversion.

The score had an immediate impact on the opposition and they responded as only they can.  As fierce a physical encounter as Irish have played this season began to unfold with the strong, muscular visitors’ pack making their presence felt all over the pitch.

A driving maul by the visitors off the back of five metre lineout in the ninth minute swung towards the home try line but was stopped a metre short, however the referee, Mr Debney, in an early indication of his discomfort, went to the television match official for a decision  No try was awarded.

That was the trigger for a ten minute period of sustained pressure by the visitors during which the penalty count began to go against Irish.  Wasps’ fly half Dave Walder slotted one between the uprights to register his team’s first points in the 15th minute.

Bob Casey and Nick Kennedy were winning Irish’s lineouts but had little chance against the less than straight throw-ins of the opposition that went unpunished.  Irish’s second score came from pressure after a lineout win in the 23rd minute, Eoghan Hickey kicking well from 18 metres out to the right of the posts. The advantage lasted less than two minutes as Walder responded with his second penalty, this time from 38 metres as Irish were penalised for not rolling clear.

A point of concern for Irish was the tactical kicking duels where the Josh Lewsey-Walder combination was consistently getting the better of the efforts of Hewat-Hickey for Irish with the result that much hard won possession was wasted.

As the half entered its final ten minutes Irish mounted a passage of sustained pressure inside the visitors’ 22.  Despite extraordinary efforts by the Irish pack Wasps protected their line and the assault ended with the home team knocking-on the ball.  To add insult to injury Wasps took the attack into the Irish half and in the final action of the opening period Walder kicked his third penalty to give his team a one point lead at the interval.   

Wasps had the better of the early exchanges following the restart although even they will count themselves fortunate that a defence-splitting pass by Peter Hewat to Sailosi Tagicakibau down the left wing was called forward by the touch judge when in the opinion of many  - not least the television cameras, the pass looked good.

Inevitably the unrelenting pressure took its toll on the Irish defensive effort in which Topsy Ojo was outstanding.  Walder was the orchestrator of a move in midfield that created a gap for Riki Flutey to race through and score a try, with the out half adding the conversion to stretch the lead to 16-8.

Irish introduced their latest England international, scrum half Paul Hodgson in the 54th minute but despite his efforts the visitors continued to dominate possession and territory.

Just after the mid-point of the half a fracas broke out between the two sets of forwards in the Irish 22 on their left.  While referee Debney spoke to the two captains, the two players he identified as being the main culprits were incorrect! Meanwhile the penalty count kept going the way of the visitors.

Irish spirits were lifted in the 68th minute when Topsy Ojo collected the ball inside his 22 on the right.  He opted to race diagonally through midfield and in one of the most spectacular defence-splitting 80 metre dashes seen in rugby this season, the 22-year-old winger reached the Wasps 22 before he passed to Tagicakibau on his left.  The Samoan flyer raced in to touch down for Irish’s second try.  Once again it went unconverted as Hickey’s kick drifted wide.

With Lawrence Dallaglio in full try, certainly as far as the referee was concerned, Wasps returned to the attack and pinned Irish back in their half.  Walder kicked his fifth penalty, a mighty effort from 45 metres, in the 75th minute to stretch his team’s lead to nine points.

The referee awarded Irish their third penalty of the match in the 78th minute!  The offence was for offside and Hickey faced a 45 metre distance out on the left wing.  The Irishman struck the ball cleanly and sent it between the uprights for three points that salvaged a losing bonus point for his team.

Looking back Irish will regret not capitalising on the two/three try-scoring opportunities they created and on a penalty count of 12:3 in favour of the visitors – a statistic that stretches credibility given the nature of the game and the teams and officials involved.

Scorers: London Irish: Tries: Hewat (3), Tagicakibau (68). Penalty goals: Hickey 2 (24, 78).  London Wasps: Try: Flutey (47); Conversion: Walder. Penalty goals:Walder 5 (15, 26, 39, 57, 75).

Scoring sequence (London Irish first):5-0, 5-3, 8-3, 8-9 (half-time) 8-16, 8-19, 13-19, 13-22, 16-22.

London Irish: 15. P Hewat, 14. T Ojo, 13. G Tiesi, 12. S Mapusua, 11. S Tagicakibau, 10. E Hickey, 9. W Fury (rep: P Hodgson, 54) 1. C Dermody, 2. D Paice, 3. F Rautenbach (rep: T Lea’aetoa, 64), 4. N Kennedy, 5. B Casey (captain), 6. S Armitage, 7. D Danaher, 8.J Leguizamon (rep: R Thorpe, 75).

London Wasps: 15. J Lewsey, 14. M Van Gisbergen (rep: C Bishay, 69), 13. F Waters (rep: D Waldouck, 65), 12. R Flutey, 11. D Doherty, 10. D Walder, 9. M McMillan, 1. T Payne,  2. J Ward, 3. T French, 4. G Skivington, 5. T Palmer, 6. J Hart, 7. J Worsley, 8. L Dallaglio (captain).

Referee: Mr Rob Debney (RFU)

Attendance:  23,709

Match Statistics

	16-22
T C P DG Player         Clarke Dermody         David Paice         Faan Rautenbach         Nick Kennedy         Bob Casey         Steffon Armitage         Declan Danaher         Juan Lequizamon         Warren Fury     2   Eoghan Hickey 1       Sailosi Tagicakibau         Seilala Mapusua         Gonzalo Tiesi         Topsy Ojo 1       Peter Hewat         Dan Murphy         Stuart Mackie         Tonga Lea'aetoa         Richard Thorpe         Gary Johnson         Paul Hodgson         Ross Broadfoot	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 Tim Payne         Joe Ward         Tom French         George Skirvington         Tom Palmer         John Hart         Joe Worsley         Lawrence Dallaglio         Mark McMillan         Dave Walder   1 5   David Doherty         Riki Flutey 1       Fraser Waters         Mark Van Gisbergen         Josh Lewsey         Richard Birkett         Nick Adams         Dan Leo         Rob Webber         Simon Amor         Dominic Walkdouck         Chris Bishay