Date: Thu 17 Jan 2013

Having been forced to move their home fixture from Sunbury to the 3G Maidenhead RFC pitch due to torrential rain that had left The Avenue unplayable, the young Irish team fought hard to beat their London rivals only to fall short in the last minutes of the game.

Having beaten Bristol in their first outing confidence was high ahead of Wasps first outing of the competition. It was Irish that started in the ascendency with captain Tom McDonald putting in a huge hit following a box kick.

After a spell of jostling for field position, Irish earned a penalty in kicking range and Wellington College Centre Brett Heron got the first points on the board.

Irish were then denied by a marginal call by the referee. Some great attack work from fullback Sean O’Hagan saw him link with Eton College flanker James McRae only for his final pass to AASE winger Tom Fowlie to be judged forward to prevent Irish from further extending their lead.

Irish then let Wasps straight back into the game when they kicked the ball sloppily to the dangerous Wasps back 3 who ran a try back in from inside their own half. Wasps added the conversion to make the score 3 – 7 at half time.

After the break it was Irish who again started the better of the two teams, pinning Wasps back in their half through some good kicking by Wellington College 10 and 12, Charlie Wicks and Brett Heron.

The pressure was reward after only 5 mins when Heron chipped ahead and collected the ball on the bounce to glide in under the posts. He quickly added the conversion to take the score to 10 – 7.

The lead changed hands once more when Wasps created a well taken score from Spinks to make the score 10 – 14.

With both teams now starting to utilise the players on their benches the game started to break up. Irish started to play some good rugby, moving the ball wide and making the most of Centre, Tom Fowlie's, powerful ball carrying game. This soon paid off when Fowlie forced himself over the line with help from his pack wide on the left.

Heron impressively added the extras and Irish were once again in the lead at 17 – 14.

Wasps again responded and laid siege to the Irish line, throwing everything they had at the Exiles.

It looked as though Irish had weathered the storm when strong defence forced Wasps into touch within the Irish 22 with only a few minutes left on the clock. However, the dominant Irish lineout malfunctioned and an over-throw handed possession straight back to the Wasps.

The Irish defence again held strong for a number of phases before the Wasps fly half squeezed over under the posts in the dying moments of the game.

The final score of 17-21 saw a disappointed Irish side pick up a losing bonus point but left hugely frustrated by a win the they let slip through their fingers.