Franco and Irish defy musclemen of Bayonne
FRANCO van der Merwe produced a colossal captain’s display as Irish held off a monster Bayonne outfit to bag seven tries and a heartening Challenge Cup win.
Boasting one of the biggest forward packs in Europe, Bayonne challenged physically throughout. However, led by van der Merwe and fellow South African engine room enforcer Ruan Botha, hard graft and a technically superior set-piece outdid the French.
With Irish’s backs weighing in with five of the tries, van der Merwe said: “Bayonne have incredibly big players and they go for a long time. But we knew if we stayed strong as a team, got our double hits in and stopped their offloads, we could be effective.”
Alofa Alofa threatened early for Bayonne and the visitors led when Alivereti Veitokani failed to deal with Brandon Fajardo’s steepling kick and Arthur Duhau pounced.
Mobile Bayonne hooker Maxime Delonca and burly back rows Sione Tau and Mat Luamanu were proving hot to handle as Irish struggled to gain any traction. However, the Exiles’ setpiece was in good order and a huge scrum turnover led to their first try.
Paddy Jackson’s kick pinned winger Maile Mamao into the corner and after Tom Stephenson effected a fine turnover, Veitokani made amends with the score.
Van der Merwe filched a Bayonne lineout to put Irish back on attack. Possession was lost, though, and Bayonne made Exiles pay when giant lock Edwin Maka broke the gain-line, Tau drove close and outsized tighthead Toma Taufa stormed over.
Sadly for Taufa, his scrummaging was not so dominant and when he hit the deck at the next setpiece, Ben Meehan tapped quickly before the ball was recycled for Jackson to spot a gap and dart between Fajardo and Peyo Muscarditz for a fine individual try.
Bayonne’s riposte was immediate, slack Exiles defending enabling Duhau to slide in at the corner. However, Irish wasted little time replying when, after Julien Tisseron had been sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, Jackson kicked to the corner. Conor Gilsenen collected Saia Fainga’a’s throw and No.8 Albert Tuisue piled over.
Irish were again caught cold from the restart, conceding a poacher’s effort to Luamanu after Tuisue’s offload had slipped through the grasp of Curtis Rona. But a crazy first half continued when, on 35 minutes,
Stephenson waltzed through Bayonne’s midfield unopposed, Jackson converting to edge Irish ahead for the first time.
Incredibly, there was time for a ninth try before the break when Tuisue offloaded for Terrence Hepetema to finish superbly for a 31-24 lead. Follow that!
Irish flew out of the blocks, their set-piece expertise once again proving superior to Bayonne muscle as Fainga’a finished a close-range lineout drive.
Soft hands between replacement front rows Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi and Ollie Hoskins led to another Jackson kick to the corner, after which Tuisue was held up before No.9 Meehan sniped over with consummate ease.
Irish’s rhythm was disrupted by a lengthy stoppage after Gilsenen was floored by a head knock. The flanker walked off unaided but Bayonne struck immediately when successive lineout drives produced a try for Maka.
Bayonne piled forward but van der Merwe disrupted another lineout before capping an inspirational display by turning over a drive on his own line as Irish closed out the game.