Rugby Rovigo 9 London Irish 23 - Mission Accomplished

London Irish’s mission in Rovigo this afternoon was to secure a victory that would see the club retain its number one seeding in the tournament and they accomplished the task by out-scoring the home tema by three tries to none.

With progress to the knock-out stage of this season’s European Challenge Cup assured and the advantage of a home quarter-final secured, London Irish’s mission in Rovigo this afternoon was to secure a victory that would see the club retain its number one seeding in the tournament.

After 80 minutes of competitive rugby the Exiles emerged deserved winners if for no other reason than that they were the team that wanted to move the ball and score tries.

A cold, overcast morning turned into a wet afternoon with a biting wind blowing from left to right down the pitch just before kick-off. The rain did nothing to improve a heavy pitch that did not lend itself to running rugby despite being one of the widest that London Irish has played on this season.

Declan Danaher who made his 200th appearance for the club, had the honour of leading the team onto the pitch. The starting XV was boosted by the late inclusion of Delon Armitage and Nick Kennedy at full back and in the second row respectively. Both had passed late fitness tests having recovered from injuries that had kept them out of action over the past four weeks.

Previous experience of playing away in Italy forewarned Toby Booth’s team that it was in for a very different contest from the opening round in Madejski Stadium last October. Italian teams take great pride in performing in front of their home supporters and so it proved.

Rovigo had selected a strong, physical starting line-up that was designed to defend and they went about it in an organised and controlled manner that Irish struggled to break down initially.

Beating a blitz defence was not the only obstacle the Exiles had to overcome, the other was adapting to a very pernickety referee whose frequent whistle blowing became an irritant in the first half as it prevented the match from developing any momentum.

Rovigo had the better of the opening quarter dominating possession and forcing Irish to play from deep in their half. It was apparent that much work on the training pitch was producing a reward in terms of how well the defence was organised and the tactical kicking of fly half German Bustos and full back Pablo Calanchini.

Irish were forced to live off scraps as the quality of possession from the set pieces contrasted dramatically. The referee struggled to control the scrum and Irish came off second best with his decision-making. By contrast Nick Kennedy reigned supreme in the lineout stealing three opposition throw-ins.

The match was 28 minutes old before the opening score came, a penalty for Irish by Shane Geraghty. Three minutes later, Bustos responded with a penalty the home team when Irish were caught offside on their 22.

As the half entered its final stages Irish began to move the ball through phases and looked the more likely to score a try that was becoming more elusive as the minutes ticked by. The breakthrough finally came in the 36th minute when James Bailey broke at pace down the left wing. Kieran Roche who was following up on the winger’s right, was perfectly placed to take the inside pass then Bailey was tackled. The big forward covered the remaining ten metres before touching down to the left of the posts. Geraghty missed the conversion.

The try sparked the Exiles into raising the tempo and they had the better of possession and territory as the minutes ticked away. In the final minute of the half, a clever cross-field kick by Geraghty was just too long for Thompstone with the try line beckoning and so the score remained 8-3 to Irish as the interval.

London Irish re-emerged for the second half with James Hudson, Tomas De Vedia and Alfredo Lalanne replacing Nick Kennedy, Delon Armitage and Warren Fury respectively. The Exiles soon found themselves paying the price for indiscipline - Bustos kicked his second penalty in the 45th minute and a minute later Gary Johnson was sin-binned for offending at the breakdown.

True to the spirit that has them topping the pool, Irish stepped-up the pace of the game only to find themselves losing their narrow advantage when Bustos kicked his third penalty to give his team a one point lead.

Only a last ditch tackle on Geraghty in the 53rd minute prevented the fly half from scoring a try after good work by the pack in a scrum.

Irish survived Johnson’s absence without conceding any more points. Steffon Armitage replaced Kieran Roche in the 56th minute and soon made an impact in broken field play.

Geraghty kicked his second penalty in the 57th minute to restore the lead to the Exiles who were lucky to go unpunished when Bustos’ penalty kick missed narrowly three minutes later.

With both teams using replacements – Clarke Dermody took over from Richard Skuse in the Exiles’ front row, the momentum shifted to the visitors. The Irish pack took control of the scrum and attacking options improved.

Adam Thompstone finished off a move began by Geraghty and Danaher when he touched down in the right corner in the 65th minute for his side’s second try. Geraghty’s attempted touchline clearance drifted wide.
A minute later, Dominic Shabbo replaced James Bailey on the left wing for Irish to freshen to the attack.

With the home side tiring but defending bravely Irish kept pressing for another try. The hard work and patience finally paid off in the 77th minute when after good pressure by the back in front of the Rovigo posts, the ball was recycled left to Elvis Seveali’i whose accurate pass sent Shabbo over in the left corner. Geraghty added the extras with a well struck conversion.

The final minutes had Irish pressing for the bonus point score but the home defence held and the visitors had to settle for the 23-9 win that saw them finish on top of pool 1 and as number 1 seeds.

Speaking after the match the London Irish Head Coach, Toby Booth said, “Finishing as top seeds was really important and means a home quarter-final which is brilliant for the fans. We had fantastic support out there from all those that made the trip. That was brilliant and was one of the highlights of the day.
“We’re in the entertainment business, something that people forget, some of that (match) was very ordinary and some was quite spectacular, hopefully in the quarter-final we can be more spectacular and a little less ordinary!”

Scorers: Rovigo: Penalty goals: Bustos 3 (31, 45, 49). London Irish: Tries: Roche (36), Thompstone (65), Shabbo (77); Conversion: Geraghty. Penalty goals: Geraghty 2 (28, 65).

Scoring sequence (Rovigo first): 0-3, 3-3, 3-8 (half-time) 6-8, 9-8, 9-11, 9-16, 9-23.

Rugby Rovigo: 15. P Calanchini, 14. G Pizarro, 13. S Ambrosio, 12. N Di Maura (rep: J C Legora, 76), 11. A Baccetti, 10. G Bustos, 9. S Canale, 1. B Fortuna (rep: F Damiano, 62), 2. L Mahoney (rep: V VIcere, 76), 3. J P Orlandi, 4. T Reato (captain)(rep: M Barion, 62), 5. A Giuria (rep: D Tumiati, 67), 6. Y Anouer, 7. I Immelman (rep: N Baddochi, 73), 8. R Cribb.

London Irish: 15. D Armitage (rep: T De Vedia, 40), 14. A Thompstone, 13. E Seveali’i, 12. C Gower, 11. J Bailey (rep: D Shabbo, 66), 10. S Geraghty, 9. W Fury (rep: A Lalanne, 40), 1. T Lea’aetoa, 2. J Buckland (rep: D Coetzee, 48), 3. R Skuse (rep: C Dermody, 62), 4. N Kennedy (rep: J Hudson, 40), 5. G Johnson (sin-bin: 46-56), 6. K Roche (rep: S Armitage, 56), 7. D Danaher, 8. R Thorpe (captain).

Referee: S Pomerade (FFR)

Attendance: 1,000