Exiles make dream start

London Irish 39 Harlequins 29

TOPSY OJO says he is in the best physical condition of his career after inspiring London Irish to a thrilling opening day win at Twickenham on Saturday.

Ojo, 32, is the Exiles’ leading try scorer and he extended that record with a superb first half score to mark his club’s return to the Aviva Premiership in style.

And the winger, who has spent his whole career at the club, feels he is still getting better having broken the all-time London Irish speed records in training last week.

“I feel as good as I’ve ever done,” said Ojo.

“We’ve got a great (fitness) team with Rob Palmer and Andre Quinn. It’s nice to see all the work we’ve done over preseason is reflected now.

“Everybody feels fit and healthy, myself included, and I think we saw that on Saturday.”

Ojo’s try was one of many highlights for Irish as they wowed the Twickenham crowd throughout the win over rivals Harlequins.

Despite recruiting 11 new players over the summer, Nick Kennedy opted to stick with the majority of those who performed so well during the successful Championship campaign, making just three changes from the play-off final back in May.

Any nerves you may have expected from Exiles in their first game back in the top flight were in fact on show from Quins, with two early handling errors allowing Tommy Bell to kick Irish into a 6-0 lead.

But the game exploded into life with two brilliant tries in the space of six first half minutes.

First, James Marshall’s cross-field kick inside his own half found Ojo in space on the left and he burst forwards, exchanging passes with Fergus Mulchrone before sprinting for the line.

The entertainment did not stop there. After a classy offload from Blair Cowan, Exiles broke away again down the left wing, this time with Bell himself crossing the whitewash to the delight of the vocal Irish contingent.

Harlequins quickly responded, bagging a first try of their own before the half was out through Joe Marchant, but Irish led 21-10 at the break.

A yellow card for Quins’ Demetri Catrakilis on 52 minutes was capitalised on by Kennedy’s charges, taking full advantage on the extra man to move 2910 in front when some brilliant build-up by Alex Lewington and subs Greig Tonks and Brendan McKibbin led to Ofisa Treviranus charging from deep to cross the line.

But Harlequins did not go down without a fight, setting up a grandstand finish as they reduced the arrears to 3229 with just three minutes to play after tries from Marland Yarde, Danny Care and Charlie Walker.

However, back came Irish with replacement McKibbin bursting clear in the final minute to clinch a bonus point win.

“Hopefully we made a bit of a statement,” said Ojo.

“We want to gain the respect of the league.

“Coming up, everybody does look at us and think we’re favourites to go down. “But we have to prove more to ourselves than anyone else that we belong in this league. “This is a great start, but there’s another 21 games to go.”

LONDON IRISH: Bell, Lewington, Hearn, F. Mulchrone (Tonks 29), Ojo (Tikoirotuma 44-53) Marshall, Steele (McKibbin 50); Hobbs-Awoyemi (Reid 53), Paice (c) (Porecki 53), Du Plessis (Franks 53), van der Merwe (McNally 65), De Chaves, Coman, Cowan, Treviranus (Gilsenan 70).

Tries: Ojo (24), Bell (31), Treviranus (58), McKibbin (79); Cons: Bell x2 (25,80); Pens: Bell x5 (5,8,38,52,76)

HARLEQUINS: Brown, Yarde, Marchant, Roberts, Walker, Smith (Catrakilis 50), Care; Marler (Lambert 50), Buchanan, Collier (Sinckler 50), Glynn (Merrick 50), Horwill (c), Robshaw, Ward, Clifford (Luamanu 50).

Tries: Marchant (35), Yarde (64), Walker (78)

Cons: Smith (35), Catrakilis x2 (65,78)

Pens: Smith (16)

Yellow card: Catrakilis (52), Brown (75)

Referee: Tom Foley Attendance: 56,532