Irish off the mark as Baker strikes at death

LONDON Irish Wild Geese secured their first victory of the season after beating Redruth 33-28 in a nervy encounter.

The full-time whistle was met with scenes of delirium as Irish came from behind to snatch victory.

Redruth had stormed into an early lead courtesy of two tries from Dean Bonds.

The Irish defence was left stretched and the ball was worked wide to the wing to score, with Aaron Simmonds converting.

Bonds’ second try came from a great offload from Tipiloma Kivalu, setting him clean through before Simmonds converted.

Irish pulled a converted try back through Oliver Turner, who was left in space to burst through.

Reuben Knight then hooked a penalty wide for Irish before Ben Fox went over for Redruth on the cusp of half-time with Simmonds converting.

Irish started the second half quickly, with George Owen scoring and Knight converting before Redruth replied with a converted try thanks to substitute Thomas Notman.

The fast start to the half continued as Owen went over in the corner but Knight could not convert.

More Irish pressure came to fruition after Mark Grubb was booked for Redruth and Scott Moore scored almost instantly to make it 28-26.

Brandon Baker then forced his way through late on to secure a precious victory for Irish.