London Irish 22 Leicester Tigers 13 - Bright, courageous performance makes Tigers feel the cold

Paddy Lennon reports from Madejski Stadium.

While beautiful, bright sunshine greeted early visitors to Madejski Stadium yesterday morning, the heavy overnight frost was taking time to thaw out of the pitch thereby posing a threat to the game.  The efficient undersoil heating system, which had been switched on since Friday, had decided to rest itself for a few hours on Saturday night.  It was restarted first thing yesterday morning and thanks to the efforts of the stadium management and ground staff the match kicked-off only 30 minutes late.

It was London Irish that carried the brightness of the day into the opening exchanges of the game.  Playing with desire, speed and skill Bob Casey and his team set the early pace forcing Leicester to defend in their half.

Contrary to many expectations it wasn’t the reigning champions that were stringing the phases together rather it was the less fancied Exiles.  Aggressive attack by the forwards set the tone and the Tigers were forced to retreat.  With Paul Hodgson snapping at the heels of his pack and Eoghan Hickey and Shane Geraghty switching in the role of first receiver, Irish were the more threatening.

With the game only five minutes old, Geragthy was already teasing the visitors.  His half break and pass to Topsy Ojo in the sixth minute deserved the try that the video referee denied the flying winger.  Ojo remained convinced he had scored long after the final whistle.  Referee Small had been playing advantage to Irish so called the play back for a penalty which Hickey sent between the uprights for the opening score.

Geraghty continued at the heart of the action orchestrating matters around him.  He initiated a move that was carried on by the energetic Steffon Armitage down the right.  Before it stopped just short of the Tigers’ try line. A sequence of pick and go moves kept the pressure on before Hodgson paced to Richard Thorpe who crashed over just right of the right upright.  Hickey added the extras to give Irish a ten point lead with ten minutes gone.

The anticipation that greeted the Thorpe try was quickly deflated however as poor defence and quick reaction from Andy Goode caught Irish napping and the England fly half sent Ayoola Erinle clear.  The big centre and the power and pace to race unchallenged to touchdown under the posts.  Goode converted to make the score 10-7 to Irish.

Lifted by the score the Tigers redoubled their efforts in defence.  Geordan Murphy and Peter Hewat tested their respective kicking skills with a series of aerial kicks as they sought attacking field positions.  The Irish pack had to endure three five metre scrums but stood up to the task despite the pressure exerted by the big Leicester pack.

Irish continued to look the more dangerous with ball in hand.  Sailosi Tagicakibau threatened on more than one occasion and Peter Hewat’s pace and judgement in coming into the attacking line brought the best out of the visitors’ defence.

Erinle and James Hamilton were prominent in the Tigers defence which was under pressure, Johne Murphy receiving a formal warning from the referee about his efforts at killing the ball.

Once again, Delon Armitage turned in a good performance in his new role at outside centre.  Not only did he play a full role in attack and defence, his long range kicking out of hand repeatedly earned valuable metres for his team.  Irish will be disappointed that on a couple of occasions they failed to capitalise on the lineout opportunities resulting from the kicks to touch.            

Irish suffered a blow in the 36th minute when Geraghty had to leave the field with a knee injury suffered as he slipped trying to tackle Andy Goode.  He was replaced by Mike Catt who was making a welcome return to action after a seven week lay-off.

Goode had two opportunities to level the score in the final minutes of the half but both penalty attempts were poorly struck by his standards with the result that Irish went in at the interval leading by three points.

The Tigers had the better of the exchanges form the re-start as Irish sought to re-establish themselves.  An attempted clearance kick by Catt was charged down creating a few seconds of frenzied defence before the danger was cleared.  Dan Murphy replaced Faan Rautenbach in the 45th minute, the former Springbok prop having contributed greatly to the Exiles’ pack’s resilience.  

An altercation between Nick Kennedy and Ben Kay that originated in a lineout resulted in a penalty against the latter.  Goode successfully kicked the ball between the uprights to level the score at 10-10. 

With 33 minutes of the half remaining this was to be a crucial time for the Exiles.

Prompted by the encouragement of Captain Casey and the energetic Hodgson operating at base of scrum and ruck Irish focused on the task in hand and refused to be intimidated by the visitors. 

Irish’s pro-active response was rewarded as the Tigers were forced to concede three crucial penalties either side of the 60th minute.  Eoghan Hickey showing great concentration under pressure struck each beautifully, two from 40 metres out on the right, to restore the lead to the home team.

With nine points clear and 12 minutes remaining Irish had the initiative, however as is always the case with Leicester, they struck back quickly.  An uncharacteristic knock-on by Peter Hewat gave them a penalty in front of the posts which Goode kicked to bring the match score back to a six point margin. 

Before Leicester had time to think about mounting a challenge it was the turn of the magical Mike Catt to make a telling intervention.  Finding himself in space just inside the Leicester half and with the visitors’ defence expecting the pass, the England World Cup winner looked up, steadied himself and dropped for goal.  The ball carried the 40 metres and Referee Small’s arm raised in acknowledgement of the score was the stick that finally crushed the Tigers’ fightback.

Irish competed through out the closing exchanges.  Topsy Ojo forcing Goode to make a touch in goal after a clever kick ahead had caught the defence out.  Minutes later Ojo had to combine with Hodgson in tracking back a good 40 metres to tackle Johne Murphy into touch when the latter broke down the left with the Irish try line as his destination.

James Hudson, in another impactful appearance off the bench as a replacement for Nick Kennedy, secured the resulting lineout and it was good to see the Irish pack “doing a Leicester” as they skilfully managed the countdown to the final whistle.       

London Irish wishes to thank all the spectators at yesterday’s game for their impeccable observance of the minute’s silence in honour of the club’s former player, Pierre Durant who died unexpectedly on Friday while at home on holiday in South Africa.

Scorers: London Irish: Try: Thorpe (9); Conversion: Hickey. Drop goal: Catt (70). Penalty goals: Hickey 4 (7, 58, 64, 66).Leicester Tigers: Try: Erinle (11); Conversion: Goode. Penalty goals: Goode 2 (47, 68).

Scoring sequence (London Irish first): 3-0, 10-0, 10-7 (half-time) 10-10, 13-10, 16-10, 19-10, 19-13, 22-13.

London Irish: 15. P Hewat, 14. T Ojo, 13. D Armitage, 12. S Geraghty (rep: M Catt, 36), 11. S Tagicakibau, 10. E Hickey, 9. P Hodgson, 1. T Lea’aetoa (rep: R Skuse, 56), 2. D Paice (rep: D Coetzee, 56), 3. F Rautenbach (rep: D Murphy, 45), 4. N Kennedy (rep: J Hudson, 69), 5. B Casey (captain), 6. K Roche (rep: P Murphy, 69), 7. S Armitage, 8.R Thorpe.

Leicester Tigers: 15. G Murphy, 14. T Varndell, 13. A Erinle, 12. O Smith, 11. J Murphy, 10. A Goode, 9. C Laussucq, 1. B Stankovich, 2. B Kayser (rep: G Chuter, 63), 3. M Castrogiovanni, 4. J Hamlton, 5. B Kay, 6. T Croft, 7. B Herring (rep: J Crane, 8. M Corry (captain).

Referee: Mr Andrew Small (RFU)

Attendance: 10,599

Match Statistics

	22-13
T C P DG Player         Lea'aetoa         Paice         Rautenbach         Kennedy         Casey         Roche         Armitage, Steffon 1       Thorpe         Hodgson   1 4   Hickey         Tagicakibau         Geraghty         Armitage, Delon         Ojo         Hewat         Murphy, Dan         Coetzee         Skuse         Hudson         Murphy, Phil         Fury       1 Catt	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 Stankovich         Kayser         Castrogiovanni         Hamilton         Kay         Croft         Herring         Corry         Laussucq         Goode   1 2   Murphy, Johne         Smith         Erinle 1       Varndell         Murphy, Geordan         Chuter         Moreno         Deacon         Crane         Murphy, Frank         Humphreys         Hipkiss