Irish swarm all over Wasps in thrilling win

It was a good day to be Irish in London yesterday, especially in that little corner called Sunbury which will be forever Irish.

The English champions were put to the sword by, naturally enough, green-shirted underdogs who had previously lost their opening three Allied Dunbar Premiership ties, in time-honoured fashion.

Sponsored by the black stuff, there were enough bars and marquees, naturally, to go on a lengthy crawl afterwards - or for that matter before. Sunday or not, the kick-off was delayed by over 15 minutes to accommodate the tardy ones amongst the near capacity 6,000 crowd.

They were given added incentive to release their emotions on one of those quintessentially raw, gutteral Irish rugby days as 15 green-shirted heroes tackled everything black that moved. It wasn't always pretty, but it was certainly thrilling and built up into a fair old climax.

Having opportunistically kicked their goals and pilfered an intercept try, they led 22-3 going into injury time after 80 minutes that had almost been like a step back in time. No fancy dan, tries-galore rugby here.

But, of course, the Irish couldn't make it easy for themselves, their supporters and poor Willie Anderson. The Irish coach must surely have sprouted a few new grey hairs as Wasps manufactured two converted tries and were still coming in search of the greatest comeback since Lazarus when Mr Graham Hughes finally decided six minutes of this heart-stopping nonsense was enough.

There had been other flaws too, not least a seriously pressurised scrum. But that made it all the more creditable that the Irish dug in and eventually locked scrums after three sequences of put-ins on their line which seemed certain to yield a pushover or penalty try.

That was typical of their collective spirit and focus. Willie Anderson had warned it would happen: Irish's last three outings were typically Irish yo-yo performances. "We came back to earth this week and the boys already have their feet on the ground for next week [against Newcastle]. Every week has to be a fight and today they fought to get their pride and respect back."

Indeed, the intensity of this game is apparently pretty commonplace in an ever more competitive Premiership. It's a long way from the AIL. And the benefits to be accrued for Irish rugby, especially the international team, are immense.

The watching Pat Whelan will surely have been impressed, not least by his nomination for Man of the Match, Kieron Dawson. The emerging Ulsterman could always play intelligent, linking, supporting, running rugby. Now he's a serious tackler, putting in a host of close-in hits yesterday, some of which were probable try-savers off the base of Wasps' domineering scrum.

His time must now surely come against the All Blacks, as Anderson believes. Ditto Malcolm O'Kelly. "He's been playing brilliantly for us and deserves his first cap," said the coach. Gabriel Fulcher too underlined Ireland's untypical strength in depth, taking a host of ball at the front of Irish's excellent line-out and demonstrating his big presence around the pitch by being first to Kenny Logan's chip ahead on the opposite wing when Wasps moved ball from a line-out.

No-one played badly in truth. The close-in defensive work was awesome, a fired-up Justin Fitzpatrick reacting maturely to an early loss of cool, and a yellow card, with a big game in the loose. Halpin, the bald eagle, (well maybe not the eagle part) had been self-critical of his own effort against Gloucester, but was far more prominent. Alongside Dawson, Kevin Spicer took on a host of ball, with Ken O'Connell putting his neck on the line in bravura style.

A major difference lay at halfback where Niall Hogan and David Humphreys controlled the game far more astutely. Adopting a tighter game-plan which made superb use of the up-and-under, they kept the pack going forward and Wasps retreating, while giving Irish the bulk of the throw-ins.

Wasps, with three times the putins and a slightly one-eyed penalty count of 21-10 in their favour, lost their cool and their way as Irish pushed up in their faces. The pack increasingly saw it as a macho eight v eight exercise. A potential match-winner, Rob Henderson, (his gander up after Gary Halpin's attempted late hit early on) was grossly underused on his old patch. The replacement halves lacked their opponents' control: Guy Gregory's wayward pass for the intercept and teeing up of Conor O'Shea for a late drop goal hammered home the point.

Gareth Rees had kicked an imposing-looking Wasps ahead when Nick Burrows intercepted Gregory's intended pass on the loop to Nick Greenstock inside half-way and ran 60 metres untouched. Woods augmented the conversion with a penalty resulting from O'Shea's towering 60 metre penalty to touch and Fulcher's take.

Mark McCall varnished a big tackle count with one nifty break which died for lack of support. Otherwise Irish created little while defending brilliantly in a fractious, fragmented first half which ended with another Woods penalty pushing them further ahead.

Crucially, O'Kelly's leaping take and 20-metre drive set the tempo upon the restart. Hogan pummelled the blind side, and the Irish pack's dander was up (and so was the crowd's). O'Shea's retrieving of Henderson's touch kick, the ensuing counter-attack and Rees' high tackle on Justin Bishop (who wanted to go man on man there and then) yielded another Woods penalty.

Wasps cranked it up in a pulsating, fluctuating second half but Dawson nailed Martyn Wood to save a try and earn a relieving penalty. With Wasps ignoring their backs, Dawson repeated the feat on Joe Worsly.

Then David Humphreys unveiled pieces of virtuoso skill. Trapping a relieving kick with one foot, he picked up one-handed at full tilt, dummied inside one man and passed inside. Dawson won an important loose ball with a flying leap after O'Kelly had won the tap to a garryowen by Bishop and Humphreys stepped inside to land the sweetest of drop goals.

Gregory waywardly teed up another well-taken drop goal by O'Shea before the madness turned to near mayhem in injury time. The vice-like grip was released, but there was to be no escape for the champions.

Newcastle manager Rob Andrew kept his side at the head of the Premiership after kicking six penalities to decide the top of the table tussle by 18-12 with Richmond at Kingston Park yesterday.In a penalty strewn match niether side were able to gain the upper hand, although Chris Rees did not help with his fussy refereeing. However, Andrew refused to blame the official afterwards. He said: "I'm very pleased with the result".