Paddy Lennon reports from Madejski Stadium
“Clever”, “crafty” and “clinical” was Philippe Saint Andre’s tribute to London Irish after last night’s important win over the early pace-setters in the Guinness Premiership. Sale’s distinguished Director of Rugby saw his team brought down to earth with a bump by an Exiles team that showed no respect for the reputation or record of their visitors.
London Irish crossed the Sharks’ hitherto unbreached try line four times in 80 minutes; in the process the home team secured the club’s first try-bonus point of the season.
In a match of high intensity and pace Irish displayed levels of competitiveness and commitment, skill and passion that simply left their opponents gasping. There were echoes of the opening fixture of the season with London Wasps in the way Bob Casey’s men set about their multi-capped visitors from kick-off.
On a cool, dry evening under the bright lights of the superb stadium, the green carpet that is the excellent playing surface glistened in the evening dew. The opening exchanges also glistened albeit in not such benign manner! In the second minute Seilala Mapusua ‘welcomed’ Luke McAlister to Reading with a tackle that will have echoed back to the distinguished All Black’s home country.
That tackle set the tone of the opening quarter as the Exiles made it clear that they were not going to be dictated to, rather the game was going to be played on their terms, and how they set about doing so.
With Paul Hodgson picking up where he left off at the Stoop on Saturday afternoon, Peter Hewat playing at fly half, thrived on the sharp service from his scrum half and gave a display of tactical kicking of which Mike Catt will have been proud. When the Australian was not kicking his distribution ensured that his backs received plenty of ball going forward and were able to show the cutting edge that always has the potential to scythe through opposition defences.
A strong and skilful Sale team ensured that the opening quarter was fiercely contested. With Wales international scrum half, Dwayne Peel, orchestrating things behind a pack that disrupted the Exiles’ set piece in the first half, and with Charlie Hodgson, Chris Bell and McAlister always willing to exploit any apparent gap in the home defence, the Sharks showed why they were top of the table.
An exchange of penalties between Hewat and Hodgson meant that the score was level after 30 minutes and did not reflect the intensity of the efforts of both teams. There were signs at this stage that Irish’s determined resistance and threatening counter-attacks had diminished Sale’s initial confidence. A superbly struck dropped goal by Hewat in the 33rd minute encouraged Irish who took the attack deep into the Sale half.
Three minutes later the visitors lost centre Chris Bell to the sin-bin for a technical offence at the breakdown. Hewat kicked the resulting penalty to touch. Irish secured the lineout and recycled the ball. Casey drove at the defence and was hauled down. Hodgson deceived the defence by moving the ball right from the breakdown into the hands of Richard Thorpe. The dynamic flanker showed strength and self-belief in powering over the try line with defenders hanging out of him, in doing so he ended the Sharks’ defensive record of not having conceded a try in the Guinness Premiership season to date. Hewat’s attempted conversion drifted just left of the left upright.
Sale attacked from the re-start and Irish were penalised for not releasing the ball, Hodgson kicked successfully to leave the half-time score 11-6 to Irish.
The mighty Faan Rautenbach replaced the injured Tonga Lea’aetoa at half-time with the result that a formidable front row got even more so as Danie Coetzee and Alex Corbisiero re-energised with the strong former Springbok alongside them. This was just as well as the opening ten minutes of the second half were to prove to be the turning point of the game. Every one of the 7,563 crowd sensed the significance of these crucial minutes and the vocal support rolled in waves from the stands.
With his forwards providing the platform and Hodgson’s crisp passing, Hewat raised his tactical kicking another notch. Time and again he forced the Sale defence to turn and have to defend deep in their 22. The fly half had a chance to extend Irish’s lead in the 48th minute but his penalty kick went wide.
It was to be a temporary escape for the visitors, four minutes later in a move that reflected the opening try, Irish secured possession from a ruck – no surprise there with Steffon Armitage having another outstanding game at the breakdown, the ball was passed to Hewat, with an electric burst of pace he was over to touch down to the right of the posts, his conversion went wide.
With the two score margin Irish’s confidence grew and they continued to dominate despite Sale’s introduction of replacements in the front row. Peter Richards took over from Hodgson at scrum half and his exemplary box kicks provided another dimension of aerial bombardment that tested the visitors’ defence. To their credit Sale tried to counter-attack through Mark Cueto, David Doherty and Matthew Tait but they inevitably got wrapped up in multi-player tackles that simply snuffled the moves.
Another indication that things were not going as the visitors hoped was the increasing irascibility of Sebastien Chabal. The iconic Frenchman was unhappy with his treatment and was wisely withdrawn from the fray just before the match ended its final quarter.
Then came the moment that summed up Irish’s approach to the game; a quickly taken throw on the left was passed by Hewat to Delon Armitage. The full back in a burst of speed that left the defenders trailing raced diagonally across the pitch. As he was tackled he passed to Mapusua who chose yet another defence-splitting line, as he was tackled he offloaded brilliantly to the on-rushing Corbisiero. The 20-year-old showed remarkable strength and determination as he held off two defenders to crash over under the posts. Hewat added the extras to stretch the lead to 23-6.
The match continued at an unrelenting pace and each injury break brought welcome relief for both sets of players. Irish had the benefit of almost every person in the stadium cheering them on. Declan Danaher replaced the outstanding Chris Hala’Ufia who had run himself to a stand still with his ball carrying and uncompromising tackling.
Irish escaped when Sale finally broke through the Exiles’ defensive line in the 71st minute but Cueto knocked on with the try line at his mercy. The Sharks’ backs were at their best a minute later when they caught Mapusua after he had intercepted a loose pass and almost had a clear run to the Sale try line.
Fully aware that the bonus point try was a real prospect captain Casey ensured there was no slackening of Irish’s attacking efforts. A scrum in midfield, 45 metres from the Sale try line provided the catalyst for another assault. Richards broke left from the base of the scrum and found Sailosi Tagicakibau with his pass. The Samoan international once again used his deceptive strength to fend off three attempted tackles as he flirted with the left touchline before touching down in the left corner for a fourth try that was greeted ecstatically by players and supporters alike.
Sale countered from the re-start seeking a consolation try score but a resolute Irish defence held and Richards brought a memorable occasion to an end when he kicked to touch.
As a result of the five point winning performance Irish move up to fifth place in the Guinness Premiership table.
Scorers: London Irish: Tries: Thorpe (38), Hewat (53), Corbisiero (61), Tagicakibau (76); Conversions: Hewat 2. Penalty goal: Hewat (17). Dropped goal: Hewat (33). Sale Sharks: Penalty goals: Hodgson 2 (29, 40).
Scoring sequence (London Irish first): 3-0, 3-3, 6-3, 11-3, 11-6 (half-time) 16-6, 23-6, 28-6.
London Irish: 15. D Armitge, 14. T Ojo, 13. E Sevealii, 12. S Mapusua, 11. S Tagicakibau, 10. P Hewat (rep: E Hickey, 77), 9. P Hodgson (rep: P Richards, 55), 1. A Corbisiero (rep: D Murphy, 62), 2. D Coetzee (rep: D Paice, 55), 3. T Lea’aetoa (rep: F Rautenbach, h-t), 4. N Kennedy (rep: G Johnson, 77), 5. B Casey (captain), 6. R Thorpe, 7. S Armitage, 8. C Hala’Ufia (rep: D Danaher, 68).
Sale Sharks: 15. M Tait (rep: L Thomas, 68), 14. M Cueto, 13. L McAlister, 12. C Bell (sin-bin: 36-46), 11. D Doherty (rep: R Lamont, 47), 10. C Hodgson, 9. D Peel, 1. A Sheridan, 2. N Briggs (rep: S Bruno, 47-54), 3. S Turner (rep: E Roberts, 55), 4. D Schofield, 5. S Cox (rep: J White, 37), 6. K Ormsby, 7. J M Fernandez Lobbe (captain), 8. S Chabal (rep: L Abraham, 57).
Referee: A Rowden (RFU)
Attendance: 7,563