Paddy Lennon reports from Madejski Stadium.
London Irish made a welcome return to winning ways in yesterday’s important Guinness Premiership match with Bristol Rugby at Madejski Stadium. The re-discovery of winning form could not have come at a better time with the club’s Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Perpignan only five days away.
Man of the match Peter Hewat scored 18 points including an excellent try mid-way through the second half. Irish’s other try-scorers were Stuart Mackie and Seilala Mapusua.
The foundations for the victory were laid by the forwards who worked tirelessly throughout the 80 minutes to provide the backs with quality ball to attack with.
Bob Casey and his colleagues in the tight five can feel pleased with a job well done against a determined Bristol front row that included Mark Regan. Casey and Nick Kennedy also had the satisfaction of destroying the visitors’ lineout in the final quarter.
With Paul Hodgson and Mike Catt in attacking form the backs had plenty of opportunity to impress. Topsy Ojo was at the heart of the action with Seilala Mapasua and Gonzalo Tiesi defending like dervishes and testing Bristol’s blitz defence in attack. Sailosi Tagicakibau and Peter Hewat attacked with pace and intent time and again and it was only last ditch defence that prevented more tries from coming the Exiles way.
A beautiful spring afternoon in the Thames Valley provided ideal conditions for an open game and there was plenty of evidence from kick-off that both teams wanted to bring their backs into the game as much as possible.
The visitors caught the eye in the opening quarter with scrum half Shaun Perry spraying passes left and right to allow David Lemi and the talented Arscott brothers to show their pace and footwork. Happily, the home defence was in miserly mood and the attacks met resilient defence in which Mapusua, Tiesi and Ojo repeatedly made key tackles.
The backs were supported by a back row combination of Declan Danaher, Steffon Armitage and Phil Murphy who worked selflessly at the breakdown and in defence against a powerful Bristol back row in which Dan Ward-Smith and captain Joe El Abd always posed a threat.
Irish opened the scoring with a Peter Hewat penalty from 40 metres on the right in the 13th minute. Five minutes later Ed Barnes levelled the score with a penalty when Irish were pulled up for not rolling clear.
As the game moved into its second quarter Irish were winning more quality possession and using it. Hewat was coming into the back line and his lines of attack and pace posed a real threat.
A break down the left wing by Sailosi Tagicakibau in the 23rd drew the visitors’ defence. The winger was tackled and the ball was carried on by Nick Kennedy. He was stopped just short of the posts. Paul Hodgson characteristically was on hand quickly to dig the ball out of the ruck and pass it right where Stuart Mackie, making his first start of the season at hooker, caught the ball and dived over for Irish’s first try. Hewat added the extras.
With Mike Catt providing a cool, guiding influence at fly half and his long clearance kicks repeatedly forcing Bristol to retreat, Irish tried to build on their lead. Hewat’s second successful penalty in the 29th minute gave his team the comfort of atwo score13-3 lead.
While Perry valiantly tried to orchestrate attacking moves he was let down by the ball handling of his team-mates as passes were knocked on or simply did not go to hand. With Nick Kennedy in aggressive, attacking form Irish closed out the opening half taking the game to the visitors.
The spring sun continued to shine on Irish’s opening salvos of the second period as the forwards continued to provide quick ball for the backs, Phil Murphy using his role at No 8 to telling effect. The speed and weaving runs of Ojo and Tagicakibau repeatedly won the noisy acclaim of the crowd.
Bristol lost prop Jason Hobson to the sin-bin in the 48th minute when Referee Pearson tired of his persistent killing of the ball. Hewat sent the resulting penalty between the uprights to stretch the lead to 16-3.
Irish were in no mood to let Bristol back into the game and Bob Casey maintained commendable discipline among his team as the West Countrymen’s attacks were re-buffed. The next score fell to Irish in the 54th minute A beautifully judged chip ahead by Catt bounced invitingly into the in-goal area and Hewat won the chase to make the touchdown. He added the extras for a 20 point lead. The strains of “Waltzing Matilda” led by the Exiles’ supporters recently installed trumpeter, made an appropriate change from the “Fields” and brought a smile to the face of Director of Rugby, Brian Smith!
Casey and Kennedy, and later James Hudson, dominated the lineout with crucial steals both in attack and defence. Tagicakibau was unlucky not to be able to score when he linked with Hewat down the left. The Australian’s creative efforts were rewarded in the 64th minute when Mapusau took a well timed inside pass to crash over for Irish’s third try on the right. Hewat’s conversion kick drifted wide.
As the final quarter unfolded, both teams made full use of their replacements with the result that the game became fragmented as a spectacle. Both teams continued to attack and Bristol had the consolation of a well-worked try by Tom Arscott in the right corner in the 77th minute. Jason Strange who had replaced Barnes in the 65th minute missed the conversion. Irish counter-attacked from the re-start and were unlucky when a last-ditch tackle prevented Tagicakibau from scoring the elusive bonus point try after another exciting, waltzing run through midfield had split the visitors’ defence. Irish had to be content with the four points and the invaluable boost of confidence the victory gave going into next Saturday’s historic European fixture.
Scorers:London Irish: Tries: Mackie (23), Hewat (54), Mapusua (64); Conversion: Hewat. Penalty goals: Hewat 3 (13, 29, 48). Bristol Rugby: Try: Arscott, T (77). Penalty goal: Barnes (18).
Scoring sequence(London Irish first): 3-0, 3-3, 10-3, 13-3 (half-time) 16-3, 23-3, 28-3, 28-8.
London Irish: 15. P Hewat (rep: W Fury, 68), 14. T Ojo, 13. G Tiesi, 12. S Mapusua, 11. S Tagicakibau, 10. M Catt (rep: E Hickey, 55), 9. P Hodgson, 1. T Lea’aetoa, 2. S Mackie (rep: J Clarke, 78), 3. F Rautenbach (rep: D Murphy, 65), 4. N Kennedy (rep: J Hudson, 65), 5. B Casey (captain)(rep: G Johnson, 73), 6. D Danaher, 7. S Armitage, 8.P Murphy (rep: J Leguizamon, 68).
Bristol Rugby:15. L Arscott, 14. T Arscott, 13. R Higgitt, 12. N Brew (rep: L Eves, 65), 11. D Lemi, 10. E Barnes (rep: J Strange, 65), 9. S Perry (rep: H Thomas, 65), 1. D Crompton (rep: P Bracken, 60), 2. M Regan (rep: S Linklater, 53), 3. J Hobson (sin-bin: 48-58), 4. N Budgett, 5. S Hohneck (rep: M Sambucetti, 60), 6. I Grieve (rep: P Bracken, 49-60)(rep: R Pennycook, 65), 7. J El Abd (captain), 8. D Ward-Smith.
Referee: Mr Dave Pearson (RFU)
Attendance: 7,573