Cowan sets Premiership tackle record in Exiles’ rearguard win
London Irish needed an astonishing defensive effort, making more than 300 tackles, to narrowly defeat Worcester, with Paddy Jackson’s late penalty from the halfway line proving the difference.
Worcester had not won on the field in the Gallagher Premiership since facing Irish in November and fought their way back here from a 17-3 half-time deficit to draw level, only for Jackson to step up with seven minutes to play.
The defensive effort saw Blair Cowan, Irish’s flanker, set a new Premiership record with 35 tackles.
“You wouldn’t want it to be like that every week. It was an impressive defensive effort from the boys,” said London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney. “From a technical and tactical point of view, there are definitely things we can work on. It’s just important to enjoy the moment, because it could have so easily gone against us.”
After Jackson and Billy Searle traded early penalties, it was Irish who grabbed the game’s first try, Ollie Hassell-collins’s one-handed pass back inside putting Ben Meehan over, with Jackson converting to make it 10-3.
Searle missed a penalty to cut the deficit and, apart from a couple of bright runs from Nick David, Worcester’s attack continued to toil. When Irish did finally counter, Worcester flanker Matt Kvesic was shown a yellow card for killing the ball. The hosts made Worcester pay, Steve Mafi burrowing his way over from short range and Jackson converting to make it 17-3 at half-time.
The theme from the first half, of Worcester dominating possession and territory, continued after the break and they finally broke through when Niall Annett marked his 100th game for the Warriors by finishing off a well-worked try. Ashley Beck’s run off the line-out opened Irish up, before he combined with Kvesic to put Annett away.
After more pressure, Irish’s 15th penalty of the match led to Nick Phipps being yellow-carded and Worcester finally capitalising, Justin Clegg scoring their second try with Searle converting to tie at 17-17.
Jackson’s penalty put Irish back ahead, before Worcester threw everything at them but failed to come up with a score. “They played their hearts out for each other, but the big thing is our handling. We are working hard on it,” said the Worcester coach, Jonathan Thomas.