London Irish thrash dismal Newcastle
Andy Fenby scored a hat-trick of tries as London Irish hammered Newcastle
©Press Association
London Irish scored six tries as they demolished a poor Newcastle side 40-12 at the Madejski Stadium in a one-sided Aviva Premiership clash.
|
London Irish 40 |
Newcastle 12
|
| Tries: |
Ellis, Fenby 3, Mulchrone, Sheridan |
|
| Cons: |
O'Connor 5 |
|
| Pens: |
|
Clegg 4 |
Wing Andy Fenby scored three of them with Fergus Mulchrone, Eamonn Sheridan and Gerard Ellis also crossing.
James O'Connor kicked five conversions while Newcastle had only four penalties from Rory Clegg to show for their trip south.
The score was already 40-12 at the break but even though Irish took their foot of the gas in the second half, Newcastle, who remain seven points clear of bottom side Worcester, could not get a foothold in the match.
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards:
"It was incredible, we lacked any composure or intensity.
"Some of our boys thought we are already safe from relegation, we conceded the first three tries through our own mistakes and were always chasing the game.
"London Irish had nothing to lose, we knew they were going to throw the ball around from the off and we had to cope better than we did."
London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith:
"We definitely got a flyer, with charge-downs etc, but I'm pleased we went on with it.
"I'm actually happier with our second-half performance as we put in a massive defensive effort not to bleed a try or two which is difficult when you are that far in front."
Irish took the lead afer three minutes, Topsy Ojo making an interception and after a succession of forward drives, Fenby crossed with O'Connor adding the extras.
Clegg kicked a penalty for Newcastle in response but from the restart, had a clearing kick charged down which gifted Mulchrone a try, and O'Connor was again on target with the conversion.
Trailing 14-3 after nine minutes, Clegg put his error behind him to slow over a penalty only for his team to mess up the restart and gift Irish another try, Fenby easily finding a way through the Falcons' defence.
When Clegg kicked his third penalty, that made the score 19-9 and Newcastle were just about in touch, and after playing better rugby in the second quarter, Clegg slotted over again to move his side to within seven points of their hosts.
However, that was as close as they got.
Irish renewed their challenge and soon picked up the bonus point when Sheridan touched down, Fenby raced 45 metres to complete his hat-trick and Ellis also scored in a remarkable eight-minute spell.
O'Connor converted all three and the sides went in with Irish 40-12 up.
Newcastle made three changes at half-time, bringing on Joel Hodgson to replace Clegg and they stemmed the flow of points against them, Irish unable to extend their advantage but Newcastle similarly unable to make inroads.
In the final 20 minutes, Newcastle were the better side, having also introduced scrum-half Mike Blair, and with Irish also making several changes, the second half offered little as a spectacle.
But Irish should have scored when Mulchrone was put through but he chose to hold onto the ball rather than set up a team-mate but although Newcastle piled on the pressure, the game fizzled out.
