Kidney keeps cool as Exiles go fourth
DECLAN Kidney is refusing to get carried away after London Irish moved into the top four of the Premiership with a big win against 14-man Worcester.
Agustin Creevy crossed for two of Irish’s seven tries but a red card for Warriors winger Duhan van der Merwe in the second half made it a foregone conclusion.
Irish are now unbeaten in four matches and have not scored fewer than 27 points in that spell but Kidney is keen to focus on the present – and not a potential run at a top-four finish.
He said: “The first half was difficult because Worcester defended so well against us. We managed to take a few chances but we let them in just before half time which showed there was a real game in it.
“We’ll have gained things out of today, but we’ll also have learned things out of today and that’s what we’ve tried to do in every match we’ve played.
“Weather conditions sometimes have a bit to do with that, staying positive too when they went to 14. Rather than just trying to make the numbers take advantage, you still have to have the courage to go out and play. The small things add up to big things by the end of the game.
“We’ll enjoy it today and on Monday we’ll be knuckling down again, I work with a fantastic set of coaches, they’re working hard on the next month and they’ll come in with a plan for the next game.”
Irish were 24-5 ahead when Van der Merwe was sent off for elbowing Kyle Rowe in the head, with Creevy powering over for his two scores and further tries for wing Lucio Cinti and flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez.
Creevy barrelled over from close range after a few minutes of pressure on the Warriors line, while Cinti slid over in the corner after a delightful Nick Phipps pass behind his back.
That came with Warriors prop Christian Judge in the sin-bin and the visitors continued to struggle, as Gonzalez drove through the heart of the Warriors’ line to crash over.
Noah Heward responded for Worcester just before half-time but Creevy extended Warriors lead again by finishing from close range to secure a bonus point.
Van der Merwe’s red card gave Irish the chance to increase their dominance and they did just that, with Rona sprinting over in the exposed corner.
Jackson then crossed the whitewash after picking up a loose ball in front of the Warriors line, both of his conversions were good as the score was pushed to 38-5.
As the game wound down, there was still time for one more try from replacement scrum-half White from close range to leave the final score at 4312, with Heward getting a consolation in the corner to round off the day.
Warriors lead consultant Steve Diamond said: “I am disappointed really, I thought we’d grown over the last two or three weeks and I think today our discipline let us down and our work rate let us down.”