Struggling Saracens failed to overcome the loss of fly-half Andy Goode, who
had scored 15 points in the opening 23 minutes, as they suffered a fourth defeat
in their last five matches.
Goode was carried off on a stretcher after being injured in a crunching
33rd-minute challenge which earned Irish captain Ryan Strudwick a yellow card.
It looked worrying when the match was held up for five minutes as the
motionless Goode received attention - but he escaped serious injury, despite
having eight stitches in his top lip.
Goode had been the influential figure in building Saracens' 20-11 lead before
being hurt.
He timed his angled run to perfection to take a pass from scrum-half Morgan
Williams and carve a big hole through the Irish defence as he went over down the
right.
He added the conversion, a superb 45-metre drop goal in the eighth minute and
converted an 18th-minute try by right-wing Richard Haughton who kicked ahead and
won the race to dive over in the right-hand corner. He also landed a penalty.
Irish replied with the first of five penalties by fly-half Barry Everitt and a
15th-minute unconverted try by Strudwick who collected a pass from the
outside-half to drive his way in.
While Strudwick was in the sin-bin, Irish got to within two points of
Saracens.
Everitt kicked his second penalty and converted a solo try by right-wing Paul
Sackey who burst through a tackle by Nicky Little - Goode's replacement - to run
clear.
Little, back from World Cup duty with Fiji, landed a long-range penalty to
send Saracens in 23-18 ahead at half time.
Everitt again reduced the margin to two points with a 42nd-minute penalty, but
Little responded with a similar long-range effort.
Flanker Tony Roques became the second Saracens player to be sin-binned when he
was yellow-carded in the 62nd minute for playing the ball on the floor.
While he was off, Everitt landed the resulting penalty - and Irish went ahead
for the first time in the 63rd minute when prop Neal Hatley's quick pass put
centre Geoff Appleford away on a 40-metre run through the middle for their third
try.
Everitt added a 67th-minute penalty to take his points haul for the match to
19, and Irish survived the sin-binning of prop Rob Hardwick to hold out.
Little missed a late penalty which would have ensured Saracens the consolation
of a bonus point. But they secured that anyway in the fourth minute of injury
time when number eight Taine Randell sent Haughton in for his second try in the
right-hand corner. Little missed the conversion attempt.
Teams
Saracens: Winnan, Haughton, Johnston, Bailey, O'Mahony, Goode,
Williams, Bergamaschi, Marsters, Broster, Raiwalui, Chesney,
Roques, Peacey, Randell.
Replacements: Little for Goode (38), Ross for Marsters (40).
Not Used: Sparks, Skirving, Kirton, Cech.
Tries: Goode, Haughton 2.
Cons: Goode 2.
Pens: Goode, Little 2.
Drop Goals: Goode.
Sin Bin: Roques (61).
London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Appleford, Hoadley, Bishop,
Everitt, Edwards, Hatley, Drotske, Hardwick, Strudwick, Casey,
Danaher, Dawson, Murphy.
Replacements: Mordt for Hoadley (77), Flavin for Drotske (80),
Durant for Dawson (74), Gustard for Murphy (79).
Not Used: Wheatley, Barrett, Laidlor.
Tries: Strudwick, Sackey, Appleford.
Cons: Everitt 2.
Pens: Everitt 5.
Sin Bin: Strudwick (38).
Att: 5,013
Ref: Geraint Ashton-Jones (Wales).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook