London Irish vs Leicester Tigers

First game of the premiership: London Rish welcomed Leicester Tigers to the Madejski Stadium. With the change in coaching set-up and all the new players would Irish get off to a winning start to the season?...

At last the real rugby season has started with more reasonable ticket prices ! However I got a shock when I saw the players run on to the field. As a referee once said ,

“London irish fans watch the game with one eye and its usually green “

How then would I tell the teams apart ? Leicester had a dark away kit with grey stripes. My sympathies would be with the ref on this one. Hope he was not colour blind.

Tigers got the first points on the board after we came in from the side. Bell converted the penalty so 0-3 to Tigers.

Irish then imposed some pressure on the Tigers 22. Topsy and Aulika both made breaks but Tigers turned over our possession on 5 minutes. London Irish then had a penalty for knee on the ground but Noakes missed the conversion.

On nine minutes, Tigers increased their lead when Betham intercept an Irish pass on the half way line and ran on to score. Bell converted the try for a 0-10 lead.

Irish got a penalty on 12 minutes for Tigers killing the ball which was kicked for a line-out. Irish gained a further penalty on 14 minutes for off-side. Noakes converted to reduce the lead 3-10.

Tigers came back and forced a penalty on our 22, for pulling down the scrum. Bell converted to restore the lead 3-13.

On 20 minutes Topsy was yellow carded for a high tackle on Pearce, Tigers No 8.

However Irish finally broke through after 24 minutes when after a penalty, Irish kicked for a line out and pushed a maul onto the try line. The ref called on the video ref and the try was awarded. Sinclair scored and Noakes converted for 10-13.

However the 3 pt gap was short lived as Irish were penalised at the scrum on 26 mins and Bell converted to hold lead at 10-16.

Irish came back with some good attacking play but often the ball passed behind the winger or a catch was missed. These missed opportunities would cost us later. Topsy returned on 30 minutes. To reduce a lead from 10 points to 6, with a man down, was not a bad effort from the side during this period.

After a kicking contest , Irish stole a line-out on 31 minutes and Sinclair almost scored a second try. This pressure on the Tigers try line continued and Noakes got a penalty for off-side on 37 minutes. However Tigers got a penalty just before the interval from Irish off-side to go in ahead on 13-19.

Irish started the second half well and after 6 minutes Tiggers gave a penalty on their half way line. Noakes converted to leave the score 16-19. Tigers missed a penalty from half-way a few minutes later. Mulipola was replaced by Brugnara after 50 minutes. Small bone replaced Court on the front row for London Irish.

London Irish stole another Line-out from Tigers but gave away a penalty and tigers kicked for the line-out. Fonua came on for McCusker and Irish gave away a further penalty which Bell converted for a 16-22 lead.

Mckibben came off after a good debut and was replaced by Steele. Tigers then attacked and the new sub Fonua nearly scored but knocked on, after 60 minutes. Irish then got a further penalty after Tigers pulled down the scrum. Lewington, a former Tigers player was replaced by Geraghty.

Tigers then started to exert further pressure which would ultimately decide the game. Irish did get another penalty at the scrum but overall Tigers made less mistakes. Aulika reminded us of his presence, after a thunderous hit in midfield.

Bell converted a big penalty for off-side from the half way line on 76 minutes, to increase the lead 16-25. Scott Steel and Mulchrone combined to make a promising break. Tigers defence held out and finally LI were penalised for holding on and Bell converted again for a 16-28 victory.

London Irish

15. Andrew Fenby; 14. Alex Lewington; 13. Tom Fowlie; 12. Eoin Griffin; 11. Topsy Ojo*; 10. Chris Noakes; 9. Brendan McKibbin; 1. Tom Court*; 2. David Paice*; 3. Halani Aulika*; 4. George Skivington (Captain); 5. Matt Symons; 6. Jebb Sinclair*; 7. Luke Narraway*; 8. Rob McCusker*

Replacements: 16. Gerard Ellis; 17. Tom Smallbone; 18. Leo Halavatau; 19. Eoin Sheriff; 20. David Sisi; 21. Scott Steele; 22. Shane Geraghty*; 23. Fergus Mulchrone

*Denotes International

Leicester Tigers Team

15 Mathew Tait (Captain); 14 Adam Thompstone; 13 Peter Betham; 12 Seremaia Bai; 11 George Catchpole; 10 Tommy Bell; 9 Sam Harrison; 1 Logovi'i Mulipola; 2 Greg Bateman; 3 Fraser Balmain; 4 Mike Williams; 5 Mike Fitzgerald; 6 Tom Croft; 7 Lachlan McCaffrey; 8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker;17 Riccardo Brugnara; 18 Tiziano Pasquali; 19 Sebastian de Chaves; 20 Opeti Fonua; 21 Ben White; 22 Owen Williams; 23 Paolo Odogwu

Referee: Matthew Carley

Assistant referees: Ashley Rowden, Robin Goodliffe

Television match official: Stuart Terheege

Timekeeper: John Burtenshaw

Assessor: Martin Fox