Derby delight for Irish as Scottish put to the sword
LONDON Scottish head coach Nic Rouse didn’t mince his words after his team were blown away at the Madjeski Stadium. “They put us to the sword,” he said. “We coughed up far too much ball and they’re a clinical team who are top of the table for a reason.”
It took only three minutes for London Irish to get on the scoresheet through Oliver Hoskins.
Scottish lost their own line out on the halfway line. Michale van Vuuren, who would go on to have a debut to remember, stepped his man and made huge ground in the centre of the park.
As he fell just short of the 5m line, Irish sucked players into the breakdown until Hoskins had enough space to wriggle over. Flyhalf Ian Keatley kicked the extras for the first of his six conversions.
Scottish were never able to get into the game as their passing and kicking was repeatedly off-target and man-of-the-match Keately soon ran in the second try.
With ten minutes left of the half, Scottish found themselves on the front foot in the Irish half as huge carries from Matt Eliet and Lewis Wynne dragged them up the field.
Scottish moved the ball through hands, but the passing was poor and it was spilled to Topsy Ojo who needed no invitation to run it back at them. Irish recycled the ball and went through the phases until Hoskins found his way over again.
Another handling error gifted Irish their bonus point try just before half time. Scottish knocked on in their own 22 and, from the scrum that followed, scrum-half Brendan McKibbin raced from the back to the try line. A couple of huge hits kept him out but captain Matt Rogerson dived over to score.
The story of the second half was much the same. Three minutes played and Irish had another try through Rogerson after another Scottish knock on.
Irish used their set-piece to land two more tries. Their 5m line out was unstoppable and, on both occasions, van Vuuren was
the man holding the ball as they crossed the whitewash.
With ten minutes left, Scottish began to put together some nice phases. Youngster Josh Barton came on and you sensed a tempo changes from Scottish. Barton went alone from a ruck on the Irish 10m line and played a little dink over the top which earned a 5m scrum. A couple of phases on Rory Jennings sent an ambitious crossfield kick into the hands of Miles Mantella who dotted down in the corner.
Irish answered back through Ollie Hassell-Collins who capitalised on more poor passing from Scottish.
The final phases belonged to Scottish and they landed a great solo try when Charlie Ingall stepped his man and ran 60m to score.
This was not a brilliant game, but Irish were utterly clinical when opportunities came their way. Keatley ended up with an impressive 17 points.
Irish head coach Les Kiss said: “We backed our ability. We took our opportunities well, and we felt that we left a couple out there.”