Richards Man of the Match performance brightens a grey day

Richards' Man of the Match performance brightens a grey day

Grey was the prevailing colour at Madejski Stadium yesterday afternoon. The rain clouds that made their way up the Thames Valley gave the excellent pitch a thorough soaking resulting in a slippy surface and greasy ball for the players. As a consequence, grey is also a fitting adjective to use to describe the quality of play by both London Irish and Harlequins in this opening match of Pool C of the EDF Energy Cup.

All the points scored came in the second twenty minutes of the first half of the game ' an informal post-match survey among players and officials didn't find anyone who could remember a scoreless second half in a game at Madejski Stadium in recent seasons.

London Irish will wonder how they could have dominated possession and territory for long periods during the game and have nothing to show for it. In an enterprising start to the game Irish at least signalled that they wanted to play rugby with ball in hand. However, a well organised Harlequins defence, in particular their ability to slow the ball at the breakdown, contributed to the home side's inability to score, however, idiosyncratic officiating was also a problem throughout the game for both teams.

Irish will feel justified in claiming that they were hard done by as a review of the match video left them wondering why Phil Murphy's 17th minute touch down didn't stand or why Peter Richards was called back in the 47th minute when he had scythed through the visitors' defence and had the try line at his mercy.

At least Murphy had the satisfaction of scoring Irish's only try in the 20th minute when he took a superb, long pass by Nils Mordt to touch down left of the posts. Jeremy Staunton missed the conversion.

The current fashion for long range kicking for field position was a feature of the game, not always an attractive one, as Quins' Adrian Jarvis and David Strettle went head-to-head with Delon Armitage and Tim Curran for the Exiles for distance.

Harlequins' try came in the 27th minute when a Will Skinner drive brought the visitors on a rare first half visit inside the Irish 22. Quins won a five metre scrum and their big No 8 Chris Hala'ufia had the relatively simple task of picking up the ball and barging over in the right corner. Jarvis added the extras with a well struck conversion. Irish were left to rue the missed tackles that gave Quins the position to attack.

Delon Armitage regained the lead for Irish in the 37th minute with a well struck, long range penalty from 42 metres. The one point advantage lasted only two minutes as Jarvis showed that he could also kick from long range with a 40 metre effort just before half-time. Few thought at the time that the penalty would be the final score of the game!

The Exiles' consistency in the set pieces, one of the strengths of their game since the start of the season, was missing yesterday. Both scrum and lineout were under pressure especially in the second half, a reflection of the relative inexperience and youth of players in key positions. The result was an added workload for the senior players and poor quality ball for scrum half Peter Richards to work with.

Richards was making his debut for Irish one week after playing for England in the Rugby World Cup Final in Paris. And what an impact he made. All his skills and style were in evidence as he passed, box-kicked, tackled, harried and chased tirelessly throughout the 79 minutes he was on the pitch. A performance that deservedly earned him the 'Man of the Match' title.

Adrian Jarvis and Delon Armitage missed with long range penalty attempts in the third quarter as the conditions and the introduction of a series of replacements disrupted the flow of the game. When Irish did play with ball in hand and with momentum they looked dangerous but they let themselves down repeatedly by turning over the ball in the visitors' 22. Quins were content to use the boot of Strettle, Jarvis and Chris Malone, when he replaced the Welsh fly half in the 55th minute, to clear their lines.

In the final quarter the game deteriorated as a spectacle and a contest as both teams struggled for the decisive score but allowed themselves to become frustrated by the conditions and officiating.

While Irish have a losers' bonus point, the result effectively means that it is unlikely that they can progress from Pool C given the Ospreys seven-try, match-winning performance over Worcester on Saturday.

Scorers: London Irish: Try: Murphy (20). Penalty goal: Armitage, D (37). Harlequins: Try: Hala'ufia (31); Conversion: Jarvis. Penalty goal: Jarvis (39).

Scoring sequence (London Irish first): 5-0, 5-7, 8-7, 8-10 (half-time).

London Irish: T Curran, T Ojo, D Armitage (rep: E Hickey, 65), N Mordt, T De Vedia (rep: W Fury, 58-63), J Staunton, P Richards (rep: W Fury, 79), D Murphy (rep: T Warren, 57), D Paice (rep: S Mackie, 40), T Lea'aetoa, N Kennedy (rep: G Johnson, 57), B Casey (captain), K Roche (rep: D Danaher, 57), S Armitage, P Murphy (rep: R Thorpe, 55).

Harlequins: D Strettle, S Keogh, De Wet Barry, T Masson, U Monye, A Jarvis (rep: C Malone, 55), D Care, J Brooks, C Brooker (rep: T Fuga, 55), M Ross, J Percival, N Spangero, P Volley (captain)(rep: T Guest, 55), W Skinner, C Hala'ufia.

Referee: Mr Roy Maybank (RFU)

Match Statistics

8		10
T C P DG Player         Dan Murphy         David Paice         Tonga Lea'aetoa         Nick Kennedy         Bob Casey         Kieran Roche         Steffon Armitage 1       Phil Murphy         Peter Richards         Jeremy Staunton         Tomas De Vedia         Nils Mordt     1   Delon Armitage         Topsy Ojo         Tim Curran         Tom Warren         Stuart Mackie         Gary Johnson         Declan Danaher         Richard Thorpe         Warren Fury         Eoghan Hickey	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 John Brooks         Chris Brooker         Mike Ross         James Percival         Nicolas Spanghero         Paul Volley         Will Skinner         Chris Hala'ufia 1       Danny Care         Adrian Jarvis   1 1   Ugo Monye         Tajiv Masson         De Wet Barry         Simon Keogh         David Strettle         Tani Fuga         Ricky Nebbett         Ollie Kohn         Phil Davies         Tom Guest         Chris Malone         Jordan Turner-Hall