Collapse adds to Exiles’ woes. 
London Irish 15
Northampton Saints 36
Zurich Premiership By Larry Cooney at the Madejski Stadium. After a promising opening half which saw them take a deserved 15-10 interval lead, London Irish suffered a second consecutive home defeat in eight days against Northampton Saints after losing 36-15 last Sunday.
Before an attendance of 10,000, the Exiles slumped after a second-half collapse as the visitors produced a very impressive performance to overtake them in the table and put themselves firmly in the Zurich Premiership play-off contention. Saints’s fly-half Paul Grayson also gave an outstanding display.
Twenty-one points from the England World Cup ace proved to be the perfect platform for the visitor’ thoroughly deserved victory who also lost opening try scorer Rob Hunter and his fellow lock Jon Phillips through first-half injuries. Hunter was carried off with his neck in a brace and taken away by a pitch-side ambulance during the interval after being hurt when he scored Northampton’s opening try.
Jon Phillips had limped off early in the first half but Saints somehow found the resolve and character to recover and fashion a memorable victory. There was no doubt it was the composure of Paul Grayson that played a significant part in the Saints’ triumph while tries by Hunter, wing Bruce Reihana and scrum-half Mark Robinson also helped to take Saints to third in the table. Northampton could also have had a bonus point right at the final whistle but Connors just failed to touch down for a fourth try.
It had all looked so promising for London Irish in the opening half with wing Paul Sackey scoring a sensational try in the 18th minute and full-back Michael Horak scoring in the right corner just before half-time. However, despite creating a number of scoring opportunities in the second-half the Exiles failed to penetrate the visitors’ defence as Saints scored twenty six points.
Besides losing Hunter and Phillips, Northampton centre Chris Hyndman also went off, and his replacement Mark Tucker incurred a head wound in the first half.
It was, therefore, no great surprise that the hosts took full advantage by dominating the opening quarter. However after Mark Mapletoft’s second-minute penalty chance hit the post, the Exiles still had to wait another 15 minutes before Sakey’s breakthrough. A superbly-timed Mapletoft pass found the flying winger, and his angled run easily eluded Saints’ cover.
Mapletoft converted and then added a penalty four minutes later to put Irish 10-0 ahead early in the second quarter, before Northampton anticipated rally.
After a succession of robust forward drives penned Irish back, and there was little they could do to stop Hunter from powering over in the 26th minute. Grayson’s conversion narrowed the deficit to three points. The Northampton breakthrough was unfortunately overshadowed by Hunter’s injury as he required six minutes of treatment before being carried off.
Despite their handicap Northampton persisted to attack the London Irish line and Grayson had them level with his first successful penalty after 37 minutes.
However, London Irish finished the half with a flourish and added a second try when full-back Horak was put through a sizeable gap by centre Geoff Appleford. Mapletoft missed the conversion but the Exiles took a deserved 15-10 interval advantage to the dressing room.
On the resumption the visitors hit hard and early inspired by Grayson’s supreme tactical kicking.
After the fly-half kicked his second penalty, Grayson then sent the ball brilliantly from the left wing to the opposite corner to leave the Irish defence completely flat-footed.
Wing Bruce Reihana was on the end of Grayson’s cross-field pass and finished off in style by wrong-footing Hoadley to score a try. Grayson converted via a post to send Saints into a 20-15 ahead after just four minutes of the second half.
London were rattled by the extent of Saints' revival, and Grayson further emphasised the point by landing another penalty at the end of a one-sided third quarter. The hosts simply had no answer to the Saints as their play became more and more error-ridden. A fourth penalty from Grayson left the Exiles 26-15 adrift and facing inevitable defeat.
Grayson added a further penalty in 65th-minute, emphasising his side’s complete dominance and the scale the home side’s spectacular collapse. Scrum-half Robinson added the coup de gras when he sprinted over four minutes into injury-time.
Afterwards London Irish coach Gary Gold described his side’s second half display as totally unacceptable.
“We cannot go on making mistakes at this level of rugby and not expect to be punished.”
London Irish face Narbonne in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup next Sunday at The Madejski Stadium.
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Hoadley, Bishop, Mapletoft, Edwards, Hatley, Drotske, Durant, Strudwick, Casey, Roche, Haslett, Murphy. Not Used: Wheatley, Flavin, Kennedy, Greenstock, Barrett, Whitworth, Thorpe. Scorers: Tries: Sackey, Horak. Cons: Mapletoft. Pens: Mapletoft.
Northampton: Beal, Reihana, Hyndman, Leslie, Cohen, Grayson, Robinson, Smith, Thompson, Taumepeau, Hunter, Phillips, Connors, Fox, Blowers.Not Used: Richmond, Budgen, Lord, Soden, Howard, Drahm, Tucker. Scorers: Tries: Hunter, Reihana, Robinson. Cons: Grayson 3. Pens: Grayson 5.
Referee: D Pearson (RFU).
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