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Exiles look to continue winning run
By Tony Tighe
London Irish will be aiming to score their seventh win in a row when
fifth-placed Saracens visit the Madejski Stadium this Saturday.
The Exiles made it six wins on the trot with the narrowest of victories
over Worcester Warriors last Friday night.
Peter Hewat kicked all of Irish’s points as they held off a second-half
fight-back to escape with a 12-11 win.
It was a disjointed display by the visitors in a game against a Warriors’
team that has just one win to their name this season.
“We played poorly in the last half-an-hour,” said Irish’s
director of rugby Brian Smith.
“We moved the ball around and tested Worcester’s defence for
the first 10 minutes of the half but all we came away with was a drop-goal.
Then the momentum turned and we struggled to get back on top of it.
To be fair to Worcester, they got their tails up and we made some errors
and lost our way a little bit.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. If you look at
the first-half, we came here to play rugby. We are certainly a lot better
team than the second-half performance showed but sometimes you have to
win ugly.”
Saracens travelled west to Reading hoping to avoid their third loss on
the bounce.
After a two-point defeat away to Newcastle Falcons, Sarries slumped to
a disappointing 15-6 to Harlequins last Sunday.
“That was the most disappointing performance since I’ve been
at the club,” said director of rugby Alan Gaffney after the defeat.
“What’s frustrating is that we can’t get the ball across
the whitewash and that’s what is most disappointing for both myself
and the players.”
Irish have mounting injury problems ahead of Saturday afternoon’s
game. Peter Richards, Shane Geraghty and Eoghan Hickey are all out. Paul
Hodgson returns from England duty, while veteran Mike Catt should retain
his place at fly-half.
Meanwhile winger Delon Armitage has revealed that he aims to break Justin
Bishop’s all-time record of 280 appearances for Irish. The 24-year-old
made his 100th appearance against Worcester and is loving life with the
Exiles.
“I’m very happy at London Irish and don’t see myself
playing anywhere else,” he admitted. “I’ve been at this
club since I came out of school, so I don’t know anything else.
To play 100 games for the club is a big thing for me.” |
