Irish staring at relegation after Adams piles on agony
Life in the basement of the Premiership is never easy. Yet, Worcester Warriors look to be easing their pain as they managed their third win of the season against an injuryravaged
London Irish who now languish 10 points below them at the foot of the table.
Irish have not had a win since they beat Harlequins on the opening day of the season and were unable to salvage even a losing bonus point from Sixways despite a ferocious flurry on the Worcester try line in the game’s dying moments.
Building on recent wins against Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers, Worcester began with intent buoyed by a home crowd in festive spirits. However, the soonto-be
US Eagles bound director of rugby Gary Gold believes that this was just one battle in the war against relegation.
“In the bigger picture of the season, that game was pretty critical,” he said. “There is probably a lot of relief at being able to come away with four points and sadly deny Irish from getting a point, which is crucial, as we saw last season.
“The season is far from over, we saw that with ourselves last year. Knowing Nick Kennedy and the guys at Irish as well as I do, they
never give up without a fight. It is definitely not over, anybody who thinks that is arrogant and potentially could be in trouble. There were some performances at the start of the season by us that were diabolical. We really want and need to improve because London Irish will as well.”
From the early moments of the game, former Wales Under-20s wing Josh Adams, who was named the man of the match, looked to be a danger to the London Irish defence with ball in hand. After just five
minutes, he powered over for the hosts’ opening try. The 22-year-old is now the Premiership’s top try scorer after taking his tally to eight with a brace but also sees the bigger picture for his side. “I only found out at the end of the game that I am top try scorer,” he said. “To get tries is very nice but to be winning games like that is even better.”
Irish rallied towards the end of the first half with a Greig Tonks penalty and a try from wing Alex Lewington, who slipped past Adams. Warriors swiftly fought back
with Adams scoring his second try on the stroke of half time. The hosts stretched their lead with two Chris Pennell penalties after the break.
London Irish spent the closing moments camped on the opposition line. Television match official Stuart Terheege was consulted as to whether Blair Cowan had scored in the corner but it was deemed a knock-on. The game ended with Worcester’s Joe Taufete’e being sent to the sin-bin after clearing out Scott Steele before the scrum-half had picked up the ball at a ruck.