London Irish 20-26 Northampton Saints
London Irish's hopes of grabbing a play-off place in the Aviva Premiership are all but over as they fell to a 26-20 home defeat to Northampton Saints. With this win, the visitors have all but secured their play-off spot with just one game left to play.
Northampton made thirteen changes to the side that was defeated at Gloucester on Tuesday night and the opening exchanges at the Madejski Stadium were tight. Both Irish's Tom Homer and Northampton's Stephen Myler missed penalties inside the opening ten minutes as the sides felt each other out in a vital game.
Just before the twenty-minute mark though, the away side opened the scoring with a superb counter-attacking try. London Irish were pressuring the visitors but knocked-on and as Northampton came away with the ball, Jon Clarke found Chris Ashton out wide and the England winger raced from halfway to the line to give his team the lead. Stephen Myler converted well from the touchline and the visitors had the first and all-important score. London Irish 0-7 Northampton
Despite the opening score, the teams were still cautious and nervy and it took a Homer penalty to get Irish on the board on 27 minutes. Soane Tonga'uiha came in at the side at the breakdown and Homer gratefully stepped up and slotted the ball through the posts to keep the home side in touch. London Irish 3-7 Northampton. Irish took confidence from the first penalty and within two minutes they had another. Northampton were found to be offside by referee David Rose and Homer again bisected the posts to bring the hosts within a point. London Irish 6-7 Northampton
Whether it was the hot weather or the pressure of the game, both teams were committing bad errors and this time it was a London Irish mistake that gave Northampton a penalty. Bob Casey took out Tom Wood in the air during a Saints lineout and Myler copied what Homer had done minutes earlier by slotting the ball through the posts. London Irish 6-10 Northampton. No surprise then that Northampton were offending at the breakdown again just two minutes later but this time Homer's penalty was off-target as his penalty crashed against the post.
In what was becoming an ill-discipline contest, Irish gave away another penalty a minute before half-time after being caught with their hands in the Northampton ruck. Myler was not going to miss from right in front of the posts and with the last kick of the first half, he gave the visitors a seven point lead. London Irish 6-13 Northampton
The first ten minutes of the second half passed without score as both sides appeared cagey. However, after a few minutes of heavy Northampton pressure, the visitors won a penalty at the breakdown which Stephen Myler converted easily once again. London Irish 6-16 Northampton
On 57 minutes, Chris Ashton scored his and Northampton's second try of the afternoon after great work from Dylan Hartley. The England hooker had to use good footwork to kick and chase the ball downfield and as he picked up he found Lee Dickson. The visitors fell just short of the line but then managed to find Ashton to score. Myler again added the extras and Northampton were in complete control. London Irish 6-23 Northampton
Ashton's try seemed to wake London Irish up and on 64 minutes they responded with a try of their own after a long spell of pressure. The home side put pressure on in the scrum and replacement Richard Thorpe wheeled off the back of it to go over and put Irish back in the game. Homer converted to put the home side within ten points. London Irish 13-23 Northampton
And on 69 minutes it was game on as London Irish got their second try of the afternoon. Topsy Ojo raced down the touchline and was brought down but the ball was recycled out to Seilala Mapusua who went over unchallenged. Mapusua was a popular scorer at the Madejski Stadium as it was it last home game for Irish. Home again added the two points and a fantastic finale was set up. London Irish 20-23 Northampton
With seven minutes to go, Northampton managed to alleviate some of the mounting pressure through a Stephen Myler penalty. Irish were guilty of dragging the maul down and Myler slotted the ball through again to put them six points in front with just minutes to go. London Irish 20-26 Northampton. Despite some heavy London Irish pressure, including Ashton having to make a try-saving tackle on Ojo with five minutes to go, Northampton managed to run down the clock and see the game out.
Thoughts: Northampton Saints all but seal their play-off place in the Aviva Premiership with a tough-fought win at the Madejski Stadium. However, after being easily in control of the game, they may well be disappointed that they were run so close and lost concentration. They do take some momentum though, into their Heineken Cup semi-final against Perpignan next Sunday. This result virtually ends London Irish's hopes of a play-off place and they will look to rebuild for next season in order to make the top four.
London Irish:
Tries: Thorpe, Mapusua
Conversions: Homer (2)
Penalties: Homer (2)
Drop-goals:
Northampton:
Tries: Ashton (2)
Conversions: Myler (2)
Penalties: Myler (4)
Drop-goals:
