Exiles must make tackles stick to snare the Bears
LONDON Irish coach Brad Davis has urged his side to up their intensity in anticipation of a full-on Bristol onslaught.
Davis admits the Exiles looked heavy-legged during last week’s 26-3 defeat at Exeter and is anxious to avoid a repeat.
“We have to be a bit better at sticking our tackles so that we can control the ruck speed against Bristol,” Davis said.
“Bristol will be hurt by missing the likes of Semi Radradra in midfield, but even when they played Gloucester last week, you could see they were only a millimetre or two away from putting them to the sword.
“Pat Lam wasn’t pleased with their accuracy but their intent to play is impressive and they make calculated decisions to put themselves in attacking positions and back themselves to execute.
“They’ve got their game and they try to put it out on the field, so it’s up to us to mitigate that.”
Approaching the halfway point in the season, a statement victory now could turn Irish into genuine top four contenders.
Davis believes his side are well placed, adding: “I wouldn’t say I’m happy with being eighth going into this weekend, but I am happy with where we are in terms of being in the mix.
“There were just six points between six teams from third down, so while you don’t get any medals for being eighth, we are in the ballpark and it gives us a chance now to string a few wins together and get up there.
“In terms of getting a statement win, that’s not necessary, we just need to get our best performance out there. I’d like to see us improve on the game against Exeter, playing top of the ground rugby and moving quickly.
“We’re going to have to be high speed, extremely physical and I’d like us to show the best version of ourselves.
“With the table the way it is, you just need a couple of wins on the bounce to push up this league very quickly.”
Another area Irish must improve upon is their lineout, after numerous attacking opportunities went begging at Chiefs
Back rower Matt Rogerson said: “We weren’t happy with the score-line at Exeter but we took a lot of good stuff from it.
“We could have rolled over but the lads fought hard and, on reflection, we had a few opportunities to fire shots in their 22.
“However, our set-piece didn’t function correctly enough to give us the platform to score and that was disappointing.
“They’re easy fixes, though, and if we can improve our work rate and do more off the ball, we’ll be better against Bristol.”