London Irish gained a psychological boost before Sunday's Tetley's Bitter
quarter-finals by beating opponents Newcastle in this Zurich Premiership match.
Watched by England coach Clive Woodward, Irish maintained their unbeaten home
record at Reading's Madejski Stadium despite the absence of injured skipper
Conor O'Shea.
They always held the upper hand but had to withstand some fierce Newcastle
pressure in the closing stages.
With 12 minutes to go Newcastle did have a chance to level the scores, but
Dave Walder's attempted conversion of Gareth MacLure's try sailed wide and the
Falcons were never able to get as close again.
Life was not made easier for the Irish by referee Chris White's decision to
show the yellow card to both Dinos Alexopoulous and Ofisa Tonu'u in a stormy
second half.
Walder kicked Falcons in front with a third-minute penalty and then the
usually reliable Barry Everitt missed with a penalty for Irish.
Everitt was successful with his next two penalties and then Irish drew further
ahead when they were awarded a penalty try after Mark Delaney was pulled down by
Newcastle just short of the line.
Another Walder penalty made the half-time score 13-6 to Irish then two
second-half penalties from Everitt and two from Walder took the score to 19-12
before MacLure's late try and Walder's vital miss with the attempted
conversion.
Irish are building a reputation as hard to beat at their Reading home and
nearly 5000 fans urged them on as, for the second time in consecutive home
games, they held out under intense pressure.
They will travel to Newcastle on Sunday confident that they can repeat the
exercise.
Teams:
London Irish: Cunningham,
Sackey, Oliver, Wright, Bishop,
Everitt, Tonu'u, Worsley, Alexopoulous, Halford, Fahrensohn,
Delaney, Halvey, Allen, Bates.
Replacements: Hatley for Worsley (54),
Hardwick for Halford (54), Danaher for Bates (69).
Not Used: Campbell, Ashforth, Flavin, Burke.
Tries: Penalty.
Cons: Everitt.
Pens: Everitt 4.
Sin Bin: Alexopoulous (61), Tonu'u (80).
Newcastle: Stephenson, Botham, Noon, May,
Tuigamala, Walder,Charlton, Ward, Nesdale, Graham, Weir, Vyvyan, Arnold, Mower,
Beattie.
Replacements: MacLure for Noon (37),
Armstrong for Tuigamala (72), Howe for Nesdale (48),Cartmell for Weir (48).
Not Used: Peel, Grimes, Jenner.
Tries: MacLure.
Pens: Walder 4.
Att: 4,605
Ref: Chris White (RFU).
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