Weary London Irish fail to maintain heroics

London Irish couldn't scale the heights of the previous week and in that this could almost be dismissed as an all too predictable, almost cliched Irish performance. However, they were competitive for 70 minutes, weren't all that far away from another perceived upset and so there was much encouragement to be derived from another big day out at Sunbury.

There were also mitigating factors. The five day respite in between games had been filled with another energy sapping detour to Dublin for another mid-weekly international squad session. Seven of this team fell into that category, and it showed.

It would probably be fair to say than none of the seven reproduced their form against Wasps. Some, such as the ubiquitous Kieron Dawson, came closer than others, but one or two, such as Malcolm O'Kelly, clearly lacked sparkle.

It is surely no coincidence that their biggest performers on the day were the likes of number eight Kevin Spicer, little generalissimo Niall Hogan at scrum-half, Ken O'Connell and livewire winger Justin Bishop.

All in all, Irish looked a slightly jaded side, at least for this level of rugby, which is as close to international as club football can get. A wily Newcastle fielded 11 internationals, including a host of experienced old Lions and ex-rugby league players.

Irish needed the basics to go right, but though the scrum was tighter, poor Tony Redmond missed his jumper five times to add to three crooked throws. Irish couldn't use O'Kelly from the middle of the line and had no platform with which to launch their forward drives and wider game plan.

Then there was referee Doug Chapman. For the third week running the penalty count went against Irish. The thought occured that being an Irish team in an English league refereed by Englishmen means this must be a fairly regular occurence.

Willie Anderson was deeply dis-satisfied with Mr Chapman's performance, and after losing four tight games in which he was in charge last season as well, won't be too disappointed if they never saw him again.

Rob Andrew, Newcastle's captain, place-kicker, recruiting agent, director of rugby and auxilliary referee on the pitch, justifiably moaned at length about northern hemisphere refereeing in particular after this latest example of how to blow a potentially entertaining spectacle into a fractured full stop. Andrew had a point even if it was rich to hear this lengthy postmatch diatribe from the man who is still best known for kicking the leather off the ball.

Less justifiable was his view of Kieron Dawson as the game's sole sinner (Garath Archer and Dean Ryan were easily the game's most abrasive characters), and his less than chivalrous attitude to the home club. He couldn't bring himself to say one decent word about the home team, one Irish request for an analysis of the game yielding a cryptic and sarky "it was a great win".

An English player's innate superiority complex has still been at the root of several upset wins by Irish teams this season. But in fairness to Newcastle, unlike Wasps a week before, they held their composure in regaining the initiative in the third quarter and re-imposed it when reduced to 14 men by Dean Ryan's historic sinbinning with a brace of tries, to the sound of increasing groans, by Nick Popplewell.

Until then Irish had responded to an initially imposing onslaught, when Andrew astutely ignored penalties at goal to retain an early territorial foothold, in much the same manner as the week before. Again one try (Hogan picking, dummying and plunging over from close-range) was augmented by a conversion and three penalties - the difference being that Newcastle stayed closer in touch thanks first to a clever if simple 89-6 try by the outstanding Pat Lam, and another close-range effort from the impressive Ross Nesdale.

The key moment was probably Bishop's rash tapping of a close-in penalty which would have put Irish 19-15 in front after the restart, even if his Geoghegan-like frustration was understandable.

In a fractured second-half, Mr Chapman did them no favours, least of all when bringing them back 20 metres for a penalty as the pack drove Fulcher upfield from a line-out take. Ridiculous.

Irish need the ensuing five-week break in a ridiculously disjointed campaign as well. Conor O'Shea is out for four to six weeks at least, and Hogan was nursing a knee injury afterwards. At full strength Irish can compete, but they'll rarely be able to afford that luxury.

Further proof then, that they need re-inforcements. They are coming in the shape of Canadian back-rower Ian Gordon and Eastern province out-half cum centre Chris Beukes, both on trial, though one NCP championship winner with Canterbury has pulled out of an agreed deal after being contracted to a Super 12 franchise.

Still, the club is vibrant and the team is in good spirits. The last two outings gave cause for optimism, both to Anderson and the watching Brian Ashton who takes the practical view that the Sunbury club's Premiership survival is "crucial for Irish rugby".

Scoring Sequence: 14 mins Lam try, Andrew con 0-7; 21 mins Corcoran pen 3-7; 23 mins Andrew pen 3-10; 27 mins Hogan try, Corcoran con 10-10; 32 mins Corcoran pen 1310; 36 mins Corcoran pen 16-10; 40 mins Nesdale try 16-15; 46 mins Andrew pen 16-18; 64 mins Popplewell try, Andrew con 16-25; 70 mins Corcoran pen 19-25; 74 mins Andrew pen 19-28; 79 mins Popplewell try, Andrew con 1935.

London Irish: C O'Shea; J Bishop, N Burows, M McCall, M Corcoran; D Humphreys, N Hogan; J Fitzpatrick, T Redmond, G Halpin, G Fulcher, M O'Kelly, K O'Connell, K Spicer, K Dawson. Replacements: (temporary) S Burns for McCall (59-66), R Kelham for Redmond (63 mins), A Kershaw for Halpin (74 mins).

Newcastle: S Legg; J Bentley, V Tuigamala, A Tait, G Childs; R Andrew, G Armstrong; N Popplewell, R Nesdale, P VanZandvliet, G Archer, D Weir, P Lam, D Ryan, R Arnold.

Referee: D Chapman (England).