London Irish 24 - 29 Harlequins
Saturday 3 September 2011
Jack Lewars at Twickenham.
The opening match of the 2011-12 Aviva Premiership was a fine advertisement for the game. At a gloriously sunny Twickenham, two sides full of talent competed in a thrilling eighty minutes of running rugby and physical collisions, with the momentum switching sides throughout. Eventually, the excellence of the Harlequins back row and the metronomic kicking of Nick Evans won the day, but the result was in doubt until the very end.
The early exchanges were cagey, with both sides putting boot to ball as they opted for a safety-first approach, and by the ten minute mark the only events of note were the penalties traded by Evans and Tom Homer. However, possibly owing to the conditions, which were perfect for running rugby, or possibly because of the poor quality of most of the kicking, both sides gradually began to string the phases together. At the same time, the Harlequins back row began to assert itself, as Chris Robshaw (recently returned from the England training squad), Will Skinner and Tom Guest provided quick ball for the half backs.
Given the speed of this possession, it was no surprise when Harlequins scored the game's first try. From a midfield lineout, outside centre George Lowe picked an inside line and received a delightful late pop from Jordan Turner-Hall. Although Lowe's pass to winger Chisholm was slightly behind the speedster, allowing the Irish scramble defence to arrive, the pack were able to recycle the ball through several phases before James Johnston burrowed over under the posts. Evans added a simple conversion and Quins led 10-3.
This setback seemed to galvanise London Irish, however, and they made considerable progress as the ball went to centres Bowden and Joseph, both of whom were excellent throughout. First Joseph executed a brilliant show-and-go to release Ojo, winning a penalty at the ruck which Tom Homer pushed wide; and then Bowden's precise chip exposed Evans to the pace of Yarde, with Quins again offending at the ruck. Although that penalty was wasted via an abortive lineout, Irish again surged forward and referee Greg Garner duly dispatched Joe Marler to the sin bin for repeated infringements, allowing Homer to reduce the arrears to 6-10.
Characteristically, and despite the numerical disparity, the momentum of the game then swung once again. Harlequins made light of their missing prop with a series of gains around the fringes, only to see Ugo Monye spill the ball with the line at his mercy after a subtle switch from Evans. Two minutes later, however, on the half hour mark, Evans slotted a simple penalty as Irish failed to roll away, extending the lead to seven points once more. Irish then had a golden chance to strike back as they engineered an overlap, only for Topsy Ojo to send a dreadful pass in front of Matt Garvey with the defence beaten. At half time, Harlequins were good value for a 13-6 lead, although they were disappointed to see Tom Guest stretchered off with a suspected broken forearm.
The second half began as the neutral would have wished, with a try for London Irish. After a succession of poor passes, resulting from an enormous hit by Hala'ufia on Johnston, Nick Evans attempted to tidy up with a chip for himself. However, his kick was overhit and Bowden ran back to find the Quins defence completely AWOL. Faced with only one defender, he fed Ojo, who went under the posts to tie the game at 13-all.
The lead then swapped sides three times in fifteen minutes. First, Quins responded quickly to Ojo's try, as a superb sidestep from Evans created space for Mike Brown, who initiated a series of offloads. However, with a four man overlap and the line beckoning, Johnston chose to cut inside and the chance was lost, an event that coincided (perhaps) with his substitution. Evans was able to push the Twickenham side back in front with a penalty, however, only for Irish to strike again, straight from the restart. As Harlequins failed to secure the kickoff and Irish went wide, England U20 captain Alex Gray executed a perfectly timed switch to send Ojo over for his second try. This made it 18-16 to Irish, only for strong runs by Monye and Brown to give Evans another penalty, giving Harlequins a slender 18-19 advantage.
At this point, and for the first time in the game, Harlequins took what proved to be a decisive lead. Irish fly half Jarvis, who was consistently overshadowed by Evans and his own centres, was charged down by Quins replacement Charlie Matthews, and Evans' miss pass allowed Monye to barge over, despite a superb last ditch tackle from Tom Homer. Evans then maintained his 100% record with an outstanding touchline conversion, and Harlequins had a 26-18 lead.
Although there was still time for Homer and Evans to hit one more kick each, Harlequins were finally decisively ahead. The introduction of the lively Adam Thompstone gave Irish fresh impetus but their last chance went as the referee was forced to stop a promising attack because of a bust-up between the two sets of forwards. Quins were good value for their win, with the physicality of their back row giving them a consistent edge, but Irish deserved the losing bonus point that Homer opted for at the death, and created enough to keep coach Mike Catt happy.
Star Man: Nick Evans. With special mentions for Bowden, Jospeh, Robshaw and for referee George Garner, who was outstanding for the whole match.
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