Paddy Lennon reports from Twickenham Stadium
The real action of the new Guinness Premiership season started in the special amphitheatre that is Twickenham Stadium yesterday afternoon as the four London clubs played each other in the London Double Header.
For London Irish and Saracens the matches were ‘home’ fixtures and the clubs had worked hard to build interest in the occasion. They succeeded in re-invigorating the event to the extend that 52,087 people braved the heavy showers to see the opening exchanges of a league campaign that finishes in 40 weeks time at the same venue with the Premiership Final.
Who will compete in that Final will be decided over coming months but one of the pundits’ favourites, the current Champions, London Wasps didn’t get off to a great start in yesterday’s opening fixture. That they didn’t continue where they left off in their last visit to headquarters in the Final in May was down to an outstanding performance by a London Irish team that combined intelligence and power to out-think and out-muscle their London neighbours.
Throughput the 80 minutes the Exiles were not only sharper tactically but also showed an aggressive edge in the tackle and at the breakdown that stunned their highly rated rivals. While Irish went into the game without a number of players suffering from the demands of a tough pre-season, undoubtedly, the benefits of three testing, pre-season games, not least last weekend’s intense fixture in Cork against Munster, the Heineken Cup champions, proved an invaluable experience not just in match day sharpness, but also in adjusting to the new Experimental Law Variations (ELVs).
Yesterday provided the first experience of the ELVs for many supporters and they will probably want to see more match action before taking a position. They will have seen positive evidence from the London Irish performance as to how the experimental laws can be used to telling effect. The Exiles were much cleverer than their opponents in using the opportunities created by the changes over the course of the 80 minutes.
Wasps kicked-off and as is their way tried to overwhelm Irish with wave after wave of attack. They met an Irish defence that showed an appetite for the physical contest that appeared to take the champions by surprise.
The first scoring opportunity fell to the ‘’away’ team in the fourth minute but Mark Van Gisbergen’s kick from 40 metres bounced off the post and Irish cleared the danger.
Having resisted the initial onslaught the Exiles began to make an impact on the match. With a good service from an effective Paul Hodgson, Mike Catt began to use his masterly tactical understanding of the game and his kicking expertise in testing the Wasps’ defence. A clever cross-field chip set Topsy Ojo off down the right but he was tackled into touch. Nick Kennedy stole the resulting lineout and the ball found its way to Chris Hala’Ufia. The powerful Tongan international stormed over for Irish’s opening score. Peter Hewat added the conversion to leave Irish 7-0 ahead after eight minutes.
Hala’Ufia found himself in a less attractive role in the 15th minute when he was sin-binned for what the referee described as a deliberate trip on Eoin Reddan. Van Gisbergen missed with the resulting penalty and Irish regained the initiative.
Wasps attempts to move the ball out wide to their speedy wingers, Tom Voyce and Paul Sackey, failed to produce the expected advantage as both were buried in the all consuming embrace of double and triple tackles by a combination of the Exiles’ backs and forwards in which the Armitage brothers Delon and Steffon, Seilala Mapusua and Richard Thorpe were outstanding. That they were successful may be judged by the little impact Voyce and Josh Lewsey had on the game.
There was much interest in the clash of the two packs. Both contained capped players but the balance of international and Premiership experience was with the champions. Not that you could tell as the contest unfolded. In the front row London Irish’s Academy and England Under 20 prop, Alex Corbisiero, on his Premiership debut thrived on the support of Danie Coetzee and Faan Rautenbach and announced his arrival with skill and courage. Behind him Nick Kennedy made light of the absence of Bob Casey, thanks to the exceptional work ethic and commitment of Gary Johnson all over the pitch.
Their combined efforts caused the pressure that forced the errors from Wasps. Peter Hewat punished them with his first penalty goal in the 20th minute. The Exiles went on to dominate the second quarter as skill and confidence in the set pieces and aggression at the breakdown secured the ball for the backs to use. Mapusua and Tagicakibau constantly threatened and when required the combined force of the Irish backs and back row nullified Riki Flutey’s efforts to bring his backs into the game.
Peter Hewat stretched Irish’s lead with his second penalty goal in the 36th minute. That was the signal for a final Wasps’ attack of the half in the Irish 22. The visitors failed to capitalise on their pressure and Delon Armitage broke free with the ball. He combined with Tagicakibau down the left and the Samoan winger sped towards the Wasps try line. Unfortunately his attempted pass out of the tackle failed to reach Mike Catt who was stopped just two metres from a touchdown. The half ended with Irish leading 13-0.
The opening exchanges of the second period mirrored the first with another high intensity effort from Wasps. Jeremy Staunton had replaced Josh Lewsey at half-time and he tried to bring powerful forwards like Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley and James Haskell into the game. However, as in the first half they made little impact against a determined Irish pack. The Tom Rees - Steffon Armitage contest provided a telling cameo with the Irish flanker completely outplaying his international opponent on the day.
The other Armitage brother was relishing his return to action and was disappointed to see a long range penalty attempt veer wide of the upright in the 47th minute. The outside centre’s ambition reflected the confidence of his team mates as they forced Wasps to play deep in their half. Six minutes later Irish engineered a gap in a lineout 20 metres from the Wasps try line. Dashing flanker Richard Thorpe seized the ball and the opportunity and raced through the despairing tackles of the visitors’ defence to touch down for Irish’s second try. Hewat again added the extras to give his team a 20-0 lead.
The champions struck back with a try off the side of a ruck in the 59th minute when Tom Rees picked up the loose ball and ran unopposed to the line. Van Gisbergen kicked the conversion.
The score temporarily lifted Wasps but Irish were playing more intelligently and dictating the pattern of the game. The champions were lulled into conceding two penalties for offside in the 63rdand 64th minutes and Hewat punished them with two successful kicks for a 23-7 lead.
Eoghan Hickey replaced Mike Catt in the 64th minute and his long range kicks helped keep Wasps at bay. Given their distinguished pedigree the Wasps players never gave up. A scrum in the 73rd minute 15 metres from the Irish try line provided an opportunity for Eoin Reddan to outwit the defence and score a try withStaunton adding the conversion.
A high paced final five minutes ensued with Irish forced to defend but the combination of tireless tackling and clearance kicks by Hewat and Hickey kept Wasps at bay. Hewat’s success in preventing Worsley score a try and secure a losers’ bonus point spoke volumes about the maturity of this Exiles’ team.
After the match Head Coach Toby Booth described the players as “fantastic competitors” as he credited their performance “as important a display as you could wish for” in the context of the season.
Scorers. London Irish: Tries: Hala’Ufia (8), Thorpe (53), Conversions: Hewat 2. Penalty goals: Hewat 4 (20, 36, 63, 65). London Wasps: Tries: Rees (59), Reddon (73); Conversions: Van Gisbergen, Staunton.
Scoring sequence (London Irish first): 7-0, 10-0, 13-0 (half-time) 20-0, 20-7, 23-7, 26-7, 26-14.
London Irish: 15. P Hewat, 14. T Ojo, 13. D Armitage, 12. S Mapusua, 11. Tagicakibau, 10. M Catt (captain)(rep: E Hickey, 64min), 9. P Hodgson (rep: P Richards, 71), 1. A Corbisiero (rep: D Murphy, 48), 2. D Coetzee (rep: D Paice, 60), 3. F Rautenbach (rep: A Corbisiero), 4. G Johnson, 5. N Kennedy, 6. R Thorpe, 7. S Armitage, 8. C Hala’Ufia (sin-bin: 15-25)(rep: J Fisher, 76).
London Wasps: 15. M Van Gisbergen (rep: L Mitchell, 68min), 14. P Sackey, 13. D Waldouck, 12. J Lewsey (rep: J Staunton, h-t), 11. T Voyce, 10. R Flutey, 9.E Reddan, 1. T Payne, 2. R Ibanez (captain)(rep: R Webber, 68), 3. P Barnard (rep: P Vickery, 51), 4. S Shaw, 5. R Birkett (rep: T Palmer, 51), 6. J Worsley, 7. T Rees, 8. J Haskell (rep: J Hart, 60).
Referee: A Small (RFU)
Attendance: 52,087