LONDON Irish have been waiting a long time for this dam to break. After six months of the Zurich Premiership season they claimed their first bonus point for four tries yesterday, although their last two did not come until time added on was ticking away at Vicarage Road.
That will not concern them. It was the quality of the overall performance that convinced Gary Gold, their coach, that a corner may have been turned and that the faith he has invested in the exiles’ wide game has been justified. If it moved them only one place up the table — they now stand three points adrift of Saracens, who are seventh — Irish will feel much better about their prospects.
Even though they led 9-0 at the interval, Saracens had conceded the initiative. Only during the first quarter did they play like a team unbeaten in the Premiership since November, against a club whose previous league win was much the same time but who have now beaten Saracens three times in little more than four months.
“We have played like that in our last four or five games but just haven’t been able to get over the whitewash,” Gold said. “It’s the time when our values have really been tested: do we throw the baby out with the bath water and play a boring kicking game, or do we stick with what we believe in?” Saracens, muted at the lineout, where Nick Kennedy excelled, and unable to impose themselves anywhere else, strung sufficient phases together to give Glen Jackson three penalty attempts before the interval. The New Zealander kicked all of them, but it was the Irish who noticed the frequency with which Ashley Rowden, the referee, punished players handling the ball on the ground, an offence that cost Saracens dear in the second half.
Their revival stemmed from a close-range scrum, Phil Murphy and Darren Edwards creating space in midfield and Rod Penney, lively in everything he did, cutting back to score his first try for the club he joined last summer. Although Jackson added a fourth penalty to his haul, the Irish were level when Scott Staniforth crossed the line, the wing benefiting from a powerful run by Roland Reid, who had just come on as a replacement.
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Steve Diamond, the Saracens coach, suggested that some of his players had placed too much reliance on their recent rise up the Premiership. “It’s all about leadership and when the Irish got back to 12-12, they started asking questions we couldn’t answer,” Diamond said, and so it proved. Mark Mapletoft, who did well to start after a bout of influenza last week, gave way to Barry Everitt and the newcomer promptly kicked two penalt ies to seize the lead.
On other days, the Irish would have settled for that, but greater gifts were on offer. Saracens, chasing the game, started flinging wild passes in their own half and one such, from Jackson, found only the outsize hands of Ryan Strudwick, the replacement lock galloping gleefully to the posts.
Nor was that all. Saracens were turned over just outside the Irish 22 and Penney went streaming away down the left before Staniforth, head back and heels pumping, made 50 metres down the touchline. He was caught just short of the try-line, but Kieron Dawson, who worked so hard at the breakdown, earned his reward with the final try.
SCORERS: Saracens: Penalty goals: Jackson 4 (16min, 21, 40+1, 54). London Irish: Tries: Penney (49), Staniforth (56), Strudwick (80+2), Dawson (80+8). Conversions: Mapletoft, Everitt. Penalty goals: Everitt 2 (72, 80).
SCORING SEQUENCE (Saracens first): 3-0, 6-0, 9-0 (half-time), 9-7, 12-7, 12-12, 12-15, 12-18, 12-25, 12-30.
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SARACENS: M Bartholomeusz; B Johnston, T Castaignède, D Harris (rep: K Sorrell, 57), T Vaikona; G Jackson, K Bracken (rep: M Rauluni, 65); K Yates (rep: N Lloyd, 67), M Cairns (rep: R Ibañez, 47), J Visagie, K Chesney (rep: S Raiwalui, 47), I Fullarton, T Randell, D Seymour, H Vyvyan.
LONDON IRISH: M Horak; S Staniforth, R Penney, N Mordt, J Bishop; M Mapletoft (rep: B Everitt, 61), D Edwards; N Hatley, R Russell, R Hardwick (rep: P Durant, 80+1), N Kennedy, R Casey (rep: R Strudwick, 77), P Gustard (rep: D Danaher, 80+1), K Dawson, P Murphy (rep: R Reid, 54).
Referee: A Rowden.