London Irish vs Newport - Home and away previews
Don't get lost!
By Billy Hamilton
December 3 2002
This week we find ourselves with Heineken Cup action again. Indeed we have back-to-back games against Newport over the next two weekends.
Newport v London Irish
Rodney Parade,
Saturday 7th December KO 2.30pm
Referee Joel Dume (France)
London Irish v Newport
Madejski Stadium
Sunday 15th December KO 3pm
Referee: Antonio Lombardi (Italy)
Newport has been having a similar season to ourselves. They have only won two of the ten games that they have played whereas our record is four wins and a draw in sixteen games. It is noticeable that the set up in Wales has restricted the number of games that Newport has played and their last game was on 29th October when they beat Caerphilly 36-10 in the Welsh League. The home page on their official site http://www.newport-rfc.co.uk bears the headline "Itching for Rugby Again – The Black and Amber Army, impatient for the call and waiting to get back on the march".
While they have been laid off we have had our best period of the season. We have had two wins, against Newcastle and Leicester and a draw against Bristol. We have also lost two games against league leaders Gloucester but in both games, especially last weekend, we recorded fine performances against this year’s form team.
If we are to progress in the Heineken Cup these are two games we need to win. The other two games in our division are the back-to-back games between Edinburgh and Toulouse. Two victories by the French side will almost assure them of progressing to the quarter finals. We will need the spoils to be shared, two draws or a victory each, to help our cause. Two victories by Edinburgh, although unlikely, would be the best result for us.
The Edinburgh game this Saturday is being shown live on BBC "Grandstand". The referee for our home game against Newport is A. Lombardi of Italy who refereed our game against Edinburgh.
Pool 5
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
T |
PTS |
|
|
Toulouse |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
62 |
42 |
7 |
4 |
|
London Irish |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
47 |
36 |
3 |
2 |
|
Edinburgh |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
35 |
41 |
3 |
2 |
|
Newport |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
36 |
61 |
2 |
0 |
|
LEADING SCORERS 2002/03
TRIES 3 Steve Booth (Leicester Tigers), Jake Boer, James Simpson-Daniel, Terry Fanolua (Gloucester), Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster Lions). 2 Philippe Escalle (Beziers), Neil Back, Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers), Henry Paul, Marcel Garvey (Gloucester), Nicolas Laharrague, Manuel Edmonds, Nicolas Couttet (Perpignan), Casper Steyn, Gordon Frasca (Viadana), Pierre Caillet, pen tries (Bourgoin), Jason White (Glasgow Rugby), Dwayne Peel, Martyn Madden (Llanelli), Felipe Contepomi (Bristol Shoguns), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster Lions), Olivier Magne (Montferrand), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse)
POINTS 45 Stephen Jones (Llanelli) 40 Ludovic Mercier (Gloucester) 37 Felipe Contepomi (Bristol Shoguns) 32 Benjamin Boyet (Bourgoin), Brian O'Meara (Leinster Lions), Barry Everitt (London Irish), Paul Grayson (Northampton Saints) 29 Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique) 26 Jason Strange (Newport), David Humphreys (Ulster), Casper Steyn (Viadana)
CONVERSIONS 13 Ludovic Mercier (Gloucester) 7 Benjamin Boyet (Bourgoin) 6 Stephen Jones (Llanelli), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse) 5 Casper Steyn (Viadana)
PENALTY GOALS 11 Stephen Jones (Llanelli) 8 Brian O'Meara (Leinster Lions), Jason Strange (Newport), Paul Grayson (Northampton Saints) 7 Gonzalo Quesada (Beziers), Felipe Contepomi (Bristol Shoguns), Barry Everitt (London Irish), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique), Iestyn Harris (Cardiff), David Humphreys (Ulster)
DROP GOALS 3 Barry Everitt (London Irish)
|