Irish build up head of steam ready for relegation battle

OFISA Treviranus scored two tries as Irish secured a fourth consecutive victory before embarking upon fixtures which will be crucial to their chances of avoiding Premiership relegation.

Irish are nine points adrift but in good spirits ahead of next week’s home fixture with Sale before facing Northampton and Worcester.

Director of rugby, Nick Kennedy said: “We’ll be throwing everything at Sale. We’ve almost got a fully-fit squad and have a weekend off ahead of a huge training week. The boys came with a great attitude and our better work rate won us the game.”

Irish will have to tighten up their defence but there were enough attacking positives to give them a fighting chance of escaping the drop. Their pack dominated with Treviranus, Arno Botha and Franco van der Merwe making huge dents in the home defence.

Piet Van Zyl, on his first start, looked a useful acquisition as his back row and fly-half Theo Brophy Clews benefited from the South African’s swift service.

Irish lost Mike Coman to injury after two minutes but took the lead when Alex Lewington collected a welljudged cross-field kick from Brophy Clews.

Blues responded when Ryan Edwards latched on to a kick ahead to create a try for Aled Summerhill. But drives from van der Merwe and David Paice softened up the home side before Treviranus crashed over.

Blues drew level as Garyn Smith tore Irish apart before passing to Seb Davies, who held off Joe Cokanasiga.

Botha became the fifth try-scorer of the half when he burst away from a maul to give Irish a deserved 21-14 lead at the interval.

After the restart, Irish picked up their bonus point when Treviranus powered over for his second from a 5m scrum before Botha set up a try for Tom Fowlie.

Corey Domachowski rewarded spirited Blues by scoring their third but Irish had the final say when Cokanasiga scored their sixth. For the second successive season, Blues failed to win an Anglo-Welsh game and finished pointless.

Their academy coach, Richard Hodges, said: “We don’t have the depth that the