Northampton Saints 13-14 London Irish
Saturday 17 September 2011
London Irish stole victory from the jaws of defeat as they clinched a last-gasp 14-13 win at Franklins Gardens against Northampton Saints.
With both sides still missing key players due to the World Cup, this was always going to prove an intriguing game to find out which side could bounce back from the defeats they suffered in their last games.
The hosts started confidently and had chances to put themselves on the scoreboard but instead it was Irish who struck the first points in the proceedings. Saints prop Tom Mercey took a jumping man out in the lineout and visiting full-back Tom Homer converted the penalty with a well-taken effort. Northampton 0-3 London Irish
Northampton were on level terms within five minutes following a mistimed tackle from Chris Hala'ufia on Paul Diggin. From just inside the London Irish half, Saints fly-half Ryan Lamb struck the kick perfectly and restored parity. Northampton 3-3 London Irish
The game was proving to be more of a war of attrition than of style and mistakes were being made by both teams. Hala'ufia was by far the most dangerous man on the field as he broke the line on more than one occasion. Just before half-time the hosts took a slender advantage with another Lamb penalty. Whilst playing the advantage, Northampton just missed out on a try but were brought back for the penalty. Lamb slotted over again to give his side a three-point lead. Northampton 6-3 London Irish
Irish's prop Leo Halavatau was then sin-binned in the last action of the first half for persistent offending but Lamb couldn't take advantage with the resulting penalty, his effort shaving the post.
The visitors managed to get through the sin-bin time unscathed and as soon as they returned to having 15 men, they levelled the scores. With a simple penalty in front of the posts, Homer couldn't miss and he duly brought the game to 6-6. Northampton 6-6 London Irish
Hala'ufia was still the destructive force in the game and it was his power that set up the first try of the afternoon. Rampaging through five or six Northampton players, Hala'ufia offloaded brilliantly and as play was spread wide, Nick Kennedy crashed over in the corner. Homer missed what was a very difficult conversion but it was the visitors who had their noses in front. Northampton 6-11 London Irish
The Saints then put heavy pressure on the Irish backline in an attempt to snatch the win and with just seven minutes left, they thought they had done exactly that. After Irish deliberately collapsed a scrum twice, referee Martin Fox wasn't going to stand for it for a third time and correctly awarded the penalty try. Stephen Myler added the extras and suddenly it was the Saints who were in front with time running out. Northampton 13-11 London Irish
But, with just a minute to go, the referee awarded Irish a hotly-disputed penalty. Northampton were penalised for playing the ball on the floor but they believed the visitors had knocked the ball on. Homer wasn't going to argue though and he converted the penalty to a chorus of deafening boos and won the game for his side. Northampton 13-14 London Irish
Man of the Match “ Chris Hala'ufia
