Horne sounds a warning for porous Irish
London Irish director of rugby Nick Kennedy looked a worried man after his side’s porous defence let him down for the third week running.
Having conceded five tries against Exeter and Sale, Irish leaked six more, four of them in the first 33 minutes, to hand Northampton their third consecutive win since they were walloped by Saracens at Twickenham.
Rob Horne, the former Australia international centre, exploited some timid tackling and scored two of the 20 tries that London Irish have conceded in four matches since they returned to the Premiership as winners of the Championship.
“For the third week we gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb against a very good team. So we made it very difficult for ourselves again,” Kennedy said. “There’s nothing consistent with the defence, it’s lots of different things that were hurting us there.”
Kennedy admitted that he could not put a time scale on when his squad would adapt to the demands of the Premiership but he admitted that they need to learn from their mistakes.
“The important thing is that we learn our lessons along the way and keep improving. Certain areas of our game have improved.
“Although we won the Harlequins game, if we just look at performances we were off it in a few areas there and we have actually improved from there if you take straight wins and losses out,” he said.
“It’s clear to see on the scoreboard that our defence needs work. That’s up to me, I need to give it more time. Specific things went wrong today and we need to make sure that we fix them.”
It took Northampton just 92 seconds to open their account when Ahsee Tuala ran back a box kick from Brendan Mckibbin that Irish simply failed to chase. George North cut open the defence and he linked up with superb support play from Luther Burrell and Michael Paterson that gave Nic Groom an easy run-in.
Horne then showed all his power as he battered his way over for his brace of tries. It was a performance that had Jim Mallinder, Northampton’s director of rugby, drooling over his quality.
“Rob was outstanding. He was tough as nails. He was always going to score those two tries, he saw the line and he wasn’t going to be stopped,” Mallinder said.
“He’s given us that bit of composure in defence but also the punch when he has to make the tackle.
“I was really, really pleased with him. It was probably the best game he’s had in a Saints shirt.”
Lock David Ribbans scored the bonus point try before Northampton lost some of their shape in a frenetic second half. Alex Lewington, Tommy Bell and Josh Mcnally crossed for Irish but North and Cobus Reinach exploited their defensive frailties.
Northampton hope Piers Francis, the twice-capped England utility back, who suffered a jaw injury in pre-season, and captain Dylan Hartley (hand) will be fit to face Harlequins at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday.
“Hopefully Stephen Myler will get a run out [today, in the second team], Piers Francis is also available for next week. He has the all-clear so we have some good options in midfield,” Mallinder said.
Things are looking better for the squad, with Mallinder adding: “We are hoping for Dylan as well. He was working on his fitness today running water on the field.
“Hopefully he doesn’t do too much down at the England camp over the next couple of days and comes back to us fresh and raring to go for Harlequins.”
But Irish’s season just gets tougher. They are facing the long slog north to Newcastle, the Premiership’s most improved side, on Friday.
Kennedy acknowledged their quality, saying: “Under Dave Walder as head coach Newcastle have got a really good attack, John Wells is doing the defence, they have a good set piece. They deserve their league position, they have been playing some good rugby.”