Exiles have their day in the sun at long last
THE new dawn at London Irish, more of an aspiration than a reality in recent years, finally broke in full glorious technicolour at Sandy Park yesterday with one of their best wins in decades.
In the final analysis the Exiles played a fully booted and suited Exeter off the park, defended tenaciously and cleverly when under the pump – they made 254 tackles in total – and attacked with pace and invention to score five tries.
It was a deeply impressive performance by any criteria and, yes, Irish have often played well in defeat recently but that only takes you so far.
They have a spanking new stadium to fill and dreams of winning silverware so this very much felt like a breakthrough moment. It would be very surprising if Declan Kidney’s highly-motivated squad don’t kick on massively from this.
As for Exeter, it was a mystifyingly error-strewn performance save for a 20 minute first-half spell and we await to see their reaction at Gloucester on Friday.
Yesterday, a busy opening 40 minutes saw both sides in attacking mode
with Irish throwing down the gauntlet from the off with two early tries
First up came a try for former Pumas skipper Gus
Creevy who profited from excellent interplay between scrum-half Nick Phipps and No.8 Albert Tuisue before using his own strength and scoring instincts from short range.
Even better was to come from Curtis Rona a few moments later as Irish, with prop Ollie Hoskins particularly prominent, patiently went through 15 phases before their centre found a way over.
So far so good for the visitors but you knew the Exeter backlash was coming and their first score came after trademark pressure on the line. Jack Yeandle, who faces a busy time with Luke Cowan-Dickie injured, tapped from short range, Sam Simmonds had a pop and was repelled but there was no stopping Will Witty.
Exeter were briefly back in the groove and their second try was a cracker, fashioned by a clever turn and short-range offload in midfield which sent Tom Hendrickson powering through the gap with Stuart Hogg arriving on his shoulder to provide the wheels to finish the job without further ado.
It was 14 apiece and that’s the way it stayed up to the break despite the Irish recovering their poise and enjoying another good spell of pressure as half-time approached.
It was anybody’s game but that feeling didn’t last for long as Irish found a new level altogether, combining all their attacking prowess with a resilience and concentration that has sometimes eluded them.
They scored a timely early try through replacement Benhard Janse van Rensburg after a clever, quick long pass from Phipps and then garnered the bonus point with a superbly crafted try from winger Ben Loader after outstanding approach work from skipper Matt Rogerson and Paddy Jackson.
Just briefly Exeter threatened to rouse themselves with a trademark opportunist try by Jack Nowell but it was to no avail
Rather than sit back Irish went looking for a decisive winning try and clever use of the blindside by replacement scrumhalf Ben White created the opportunity for Ollie Hassell-Collins to stride in amid much Irish joy.
The Irish now face Bristol and Saracens over the next two weeks which will provide different tests but they won’t lack confidence that’s for sure.