THE introduction of a World Cup winning coach arguably gave London Irish the wherewithal to squeeze out victory at Twickenham.
Dave Alred, cast aside by England this year, has been working with the exiles’ kickers and Riki Flutey’s 15 points from the boot included the goal in the first minute of time added on that killed off Harlequins’ hopes of a winning return to the Premiership.
Irish were far from the fluent team who came up on the rails to claim a play-offs place last season, but they knew more about the territory game than Harlequins, who tried to play their way out of trouble too frequently for comfort. They did so in the shadow of their posts after forcing a turnover and surrendered possession in the move that led to Topsy Ojo’s try.
Yet it is not the worst habit. Harlequins are a natural ball-playing side, Hal Luscombe was full of running in midfield and although Dean Richards was disinclined to look at the positive side — “The performance was not up to what we expected,” the director of rugby said — they will disrupt plenty of teams this season.
But Harlequins will pay dearly if they concede lineout ball ten metres from their line, as they did twice within two minutes in the second half. On the other hand, they did claim the try by Ceri Jones from a lineout drive of their own that was almost enough to earn a precious win.
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SCORERS: London Irish: Try: Ojo (31min). Penalty goals: Flutey 4 (24, 52, 55, 80+1). Dropped goal: Flutey (60). Harlequins: Try: Jones (75). Conversion: Jarvis. Penalty goals: Jarvis 4 (4, 11, 35, 50).
SCORING SEQUENCE (London Irish first): 0-3, 0-6, 3-6, 8-6, 8-9 (half-time), 8-12, 11-12, 14-12, 17-12, 17-19, 20-19.
LONDON IRISH: D Armitage; T Ojo, D Feau’nati, M Catt (rep: B Everitt, 73), S Tagicakibau; R Flutey, P Hodgson; T Lea’aetoa (rep: N Hatley, 57), D Coetzee (rep: R Russell, 46), R Skuse (rep: D Fitter, 46), N Kennedy, R Casey, K Roche (rep: D Danaher, 76), O Magne, J-M Leguizamon (rep: P Murphy, 46).
HARLEQUINS: M Brown; G Harder (rep: S Keogh, 73), H Luscombe, S Abbott (sin bin 23-33), U Monye; A Jarvis, S So’oialo; C Jones, J Hayter (rep: J Richards, 61), R Nebbett (rep: M Ross, 73), N Spanghero (rep: J Evans, 61), S Miall, A Vos, P Volley, N Easter (rep: W Skinner, 64).
Referee: D Rose.
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Attendance: 51,960.