Happy homecoming for Exiles
London Irish 52 Nottingham 20
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH Stephen Myler says London Irish are continuing to show signs of improvement after extending their winning start to the campaign.
The fly-half kicked over six conversions as the Exiles ran riot to pick up a bonus-point win over Nottingham at Madejski Stadium.
First-half tries from Ben
Meehan, Bryce Campbell, Dave Porecki and Josh McNally put the hosts in control before a secondhalf Luke McLean brace as well as Pat Cilliers and Blair Cowan scores clinched a resounding 52-20 success.
“We needed a better performance this week,” said Myler.
“We got a good win last week against a tough team (Ealing) but we weren’t very happy with our performance.
“We thought we could improve a lot of areas and I think we did that a little bit. There’s still a bit of work to be done, but we’ve definitely taken some steps forward, which is pleasing.”
Irish got in front on 13 minutes when Meehan continued his fine form from the opening week with another sniping try.
Shane O’Leary kicked over a penalty to reduce the arreas, but USA international Campbell responded by marking his home debut with a try after good work from Meehan and Topsy Ojo.
The next try went the way of the visitors with Billy Robinson finishing off a neat move, but the Exiles responded instantly, pouncing on a poor Nottingham line-out to score through Porecki.
And the advantage extended to 28-8 on the stroke of half-time when skipper McNally powered his way across the line.
There was no let up after the restart with Cilliers getting his first try in Irish colours following a driving line-out with Myler’s accurate kick from out wide proving successful.
McLean was next to score, finding space in the corner before replacement Cowan powered the score up to 47-8 with his try from the scrum.
Winger David Williams pulled one back for Nottingham before McLean rode a challenge to spin and score his second try of the afternoon.
The visitors were the last to cross the whitewash through Alex Goble, but the win was already long secured.
“There’s a few technical system errors which contributed to putting ourselves under a bit of stress so obviously we’ll address those this week and see where we can improve,” said Myler.
“This is not going to be an instant thing where we start firing on all cylinders.
“It might take a little bit of time to get there but we’re working hard during the week and we’re fully trusting what the coaches are saying to help us keep improving week by week and that’s what we aim to do.
“We’re really pleased with the result obviously and the amount of points we scored, we showed some good things. I think we feel like we’ve progressed a little bit which is positive.” LONDON IRISH: Parton, Ojo, Stephenson (Hearn 58), Campbell, McLean, Myler (McKibbin 63), Meehan, Reid (Elrington 55), Porecki (Fainga’a 55), Cilliers (Du Plessis 58), Maddison, Paulo (Cowan 48), McNally (c), Ioane, Rogerson (Schatz 55). Tries: Meehan (13), Campbell (26), Porecki (35), McNally (40), Cilliers (42), McLean x2 (57,72), Cowan (64) Cons: Myler x6 (14,27,38,40,43,58) NOTTINGHAM: Scanlon, Williams, Millett (Goble 68), Peters, Robinson, O’Leary, Veenendahl (c) (McConnell 55), Sio (Jack 68), Brownlie (Cole 48), Heffernan (Burke 48), Davies-Moore (Cox 48), Cecil, Buckley, Owen (Farnworth 73), Poullet. Tries: Robinson (34), Williams (68), Goble (78) Con: O’Leary (69) Pen: O’Leary (22) Referee: Sara Cox Attendance: 2,985