Clinical first half sets up 10-try win for Irish
LES Kiss claimed Irish have a “good shot” at European glory after serving up a ten-try thumping of Castres and reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
But the head coach had mixed feelings after watching his Exiles take a huge step closer to potential silverware with another entertaining rugby feast at the Brentford Community Stadium.
The Aussie was thrilled with the clinical finishing by the team in a one-sided first half which Irish led 40-3, but he was less impressed by a spell after the break which allowed their opponents to claw their way back into the contest for a while.
In the end, Irish were too powerful for Castres who had shown again that Top 14 success is their main priority by leaving a few big names at home.
Kiss admitted: “We were really clinical in the first half where we put our plans into place and didn’t take our foot off the brake. But the 20 minutes after the break was disappointing.
“We talked at half time about keeping the pressure on them by playing possession football but just didn’t do that. There were some simple errors and a little bit of our focus went out the window in the second half and we gave them what they wanted.
“We either dropped the ball or gave away a silly penalty. They wanted a slow game so they could apply their set-piece pressure on us and we let them do it. However, I loved the courage at the end where the guys backed themselves and put some points on.
“We are a good team when we play at tempo, keep the ball and kick wisely. We have to take away some learnings but also realise 64 points in Europe isn’t too bad! We’ve given ourselves a shot in the last eight so whatever comes next we’ll go for it.”
Irish ran in six first-half tries with dynamo hooker Agustin Creevy again the chief driving force with two tries. The first came when he burrowed his way over from close range after six minutes. Paddy Jackson, who kicked 14 points, added the extras before Creevy sent countryman Juan Martin Gonzalez galloping down the left and his pass was caught by Curtis Rona for a try.
All Castres could muster was a Ben Botica penalty as Irish put them to the sword with Creevy celebrating a second try from a maul whilst flanker Tom Pearson finished another fine move for the fourth try.
Castres’ heads slumped, and dropped further before the break when Creevy laid on a try for Gonzalez who strolled across the line. Rona’s audacious under the legs looped pass helped create a sixth try with wing Kyle Rowe finishing it off.
The second half saw Castres fight back with three tries in 18 minutes as Irish took the foot off the gas.
Captain Rory Kockott charged through a gap in the Irish defence for their first try while the visitors’ scrum domination and Botica’s crossfield kick from the back of one was caught by diving wing Theo Chabouni who celebrated a fine try.
A Botica penalty closed the gap to just 13 points but Castres lost wing Chabouni to the sin bin on 70 minutes for a deliberate knock on as Irish attacked, and any fears of throwing the game away disappeared when replacement Matt Rogerson bulldozed his way over nine minutes from time.
Teenager Will Joseph scored just a few minutes after entering the contest, showing his speed by racing half the length of the field to cross untouched.
It sparked an end of game Irish onslaught with Matt Cornish and Benhard Janse van Rensburg crossing for late tries to leave Castres on the canvas and Irish relishing a European quarter-final.