Exiles romp away after turnover turnaround
LONDON Irish assistant coach Clark Laidlaw cut a delighted figure after seeing his side book their place in the last four of the British and Irish Cup.
Laidlaw, who leaves his post at the end of the season to take up the role of New Zealand Sevens head coach, watched on as Irish ran in five tries to put Yorkshire Carnegie to the sword and secure a home semifinal against Jersey Reds.
The Exiles held a slender 13-7 lead at the break, but second half scores from Ross Neal, Jebb Sinclair, Topsy Ojo and Matt Williams put the tie to bed.
“We had a chat at halftime to see how we could improve our execution in the final third,” said Laidlaw. “Yorkshire were good at the breakdown and had turned us over a few times, but once we had tidied up that area, we were able to play some good rugby.
“I was pleased with the lads who came in to the team – it’s a squad game and there are players who played today who put their hands up for next week.”
After a 10th minute penalty from Jacob Atkins, skipper Luke Narraway burrowed over from a driving lineout to put the hosts in the ascendancy at 10-0.
Irish went close to increasing the lead when winger Ojo broke clear but his attempted inside pass to Darren Allinson drifted forward.
Withstanding heavy Irish pressure, Carnegie were rewarded for their endeavour in defence thanks to a Josh Bainbridge breakaway try.
Stevie McColl sliced through the heart of the Exiles’ backline, before offloading to the supporting Bainbridge who dotted down under the posts. Warren Seals’ simple conversion cut the gap to 10-7.
Atkins gave his side breathing space with his second penalty to make it 13-7 going into the break.
The opening exchanges after the restart were compelling, despite a string of handling errors, as both sides looked to seize the initiative. The next score would be crucial and Irish grabbed it when centre Neal fended off two tacklers to dot down emphatically. Atkins skewed his conversion wide, but the Exiles led 18-7.
That try set the platform for Irish to push home their advantage with further scores from Sinclair, Ojo and Williams.
Coming on as a second half replacement for his first appearance after a long injury lay-off, Canadian international Sinclair wasted no time by touching down from the back of a driving lineout. Atkins made it 25-7.
Ojo was next to get in on the act, his 71st minute try rounding off a sweeping backline move involving Atkins and Williams.
From the restart Carnegie hit back through
the influential McColl, the full-back latching onto Lewis Wilson’s hack downfield to score.
Seals’ conversion reduced the deficit to 32-14, but Irish had the last say through Williams.
The promising winger pounced on a loose ball before side-stepping his marker on his way over.
Yorkshire’s homegrown second-row Matt Smith, who was making his 100th appearance for the club, admitted Irish’s score on the hour mark proved decisive.
He said: “I thought we really took the game to Irish in the first half and we were in the game at halftime.
“But their try in the early stages of the second half seemed to take some momentum out of our game.
“London Irish kicked on from that point on and the game fell away from us.”