Relegation continues to loom large for Conor O'Shea's London Irish team after
a damaging defeat by Leeds Tykes on Sunday.
The Exiles could not match the pace or talent of the mid-table side in the
first half, and despite a spirited second-half comeback their Premiership lives
are still on the line.
The afternoon could not have started worse for Irish with the loss of
inspirational player-coach Brendan Venter after just three minutes, and the
South African has now probably played his last game for the club having
sustained knee ligament damage.
Leeds immediately capitalised on the disruption with Braam Van Straaten
booting a penalty which fly-half Gordon Ross soon matched after van Straaten
also left the field with an injury.
Barry Everitt replied for London Irish but Ross stretched Leeds' advantage
with a third penalty before scrum-half Alan Dickens touched down for a superb
try to leave Irish on the back foot. Ross converted before adding a drop-goal
to make the score 19-3 to the visitors at the break.
But the home side clearly received a wake-up call at half-time. Mark Mapletoft
replaced Everitt and the fly-half soon slotted over a penalty.
Winger Paul Sackey then reduced the deficit further with a 57th minute try and
it was a deserved score for Irish, who had just minutes earlier looked like they
had done enough to score through Kevin Barrett.
It was not to be, but after the restart the ball was spread wide to Sackey and
with just one man to challenge him he skirted around to score.
But with lock Chris Murphy crashing over the line despite a forward pass by
winger Chris Hall, Leeds stretched their lead to 12 points and denied London
Irish a crucial bonus point.
Teams:
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Burrows, Venter, Appleford,
Everitt, Edwards, Worsley, Drotske, Hardwick, Strudwick, Casey,
Danaher, Dawson, Sheasby.
Not Used: Barrett, Mapletoft, Kennedy, Flavin, Roche, Hatley,
Halford.
Tries: Sackey.
Pens: Everitt, Mapletoft 2.
Leeds: Albanese, Harder, Davies, van Straaten, Hall, Ross,
Dickens, Shelley, Regan, Holt, C. Murphy, Palmer, Mather, Hyde,
Popham.
Not Used: Kerr, Rawlinson, P. Murphy, Fea'unati, Hegarty,
Emmerson, Stanley.
Tries: Dickens, C. Murphy.
Cons: Ross 2.
Pens: van Straaten, Ross 2.
Drop Goals: Ross.
Att: 7,125
Ref: Dave Pearson (England).
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