London Irish make winning return to Premiership
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Newly-promoted London Irish are back in the Premiership with a huge bang after overcoming Wasps 29-26 in an exhilarating match at the Ricoh Arena.
Exiles flyhalf Paddy Jackson missed with an early penalty and Wasps’ Lima Sopoaga soon showed him how it’s done, but Irish responded with an excellent try for Blair Cowan.
Sopoaga put the hosts back in front with his second penalty to leave Wasps 6-5 in front, Jackson notched a penalty and a burst from Malakai Fekitoa allowed Zach Kibirige to squeeze in at the corner.
The visitors picked up momentum as the impressive Albert Tuisue powered over from a lineout. Kibirige raced in for his second at the other end and there was just time left in a frenetic half for Jackson to kick a penalty and leave Irish with a 19-16 half-time lead.
After the break Ollie Hassell-Collins grabbed Irish’s third, Wasps No.9 Dan Robson dived over and Jacob Umaga kicked a penalty, but the Exiles held on by the skin of their teeth for a memorable victory.
Man of the match Blair Cowan: “I’m super proud of the boys. We’ve spoken about how every person in the squad has a role to play this season. We’re proud of everyone, especially the young boys stepping up.
“The resilience we showed was a huge positive, to stick in there for the full 80. I think we put ourselves under some pressure at times and that’s something we’ll look at next week.
“We came out in the third quarter, got points and took control of the game, but somewhere in that fourth quarter we lost momentum.
“A lot of that’s on ourselves so we’ll look at improving that and keep going into next week.”
Wasps director of rugby Dai Young: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. It wasn’t my call to go for the three points near the end but I feel it was the right decision as it gave us plenty of time to win the game.
“Irish controlled the match and deserved the win.”
The scorers:
For Wasps:
Tries: Kibirige 2, Robson
Con: Sopoaga
Pens: Sopoaga 2, Umaga
For London Irish:
Tries: Cowan 2, Hassell-Collins
Con: Jackson
Pens: Jackson 4
Yellow card: Ruan Botha (London Irish, 62)
Teams:
Wasps: 15 Marcus Watson, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Michael Le Bourgeois, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Dan Robson (captain), 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Charlie Matthews, 4 James Gaskell, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Zurabi Zhvania.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 19 Thibaud Flament, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Sam Wolstenholme, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Juan de Jongh.
London Irish: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Matt Rogerson, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Franco van der Merwe (captain), 3 Oliver Hoskins, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi.
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 George Nott, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Matt Williams.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe & Paul Dix
TMO: Keith Lewis
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