London Irish ended an 11-month wait for a Zurich Premiership win at their
Madejski Stadium home against Saracens.
Tries from Justin Bishop, Delon Armitage and Michael Horak, a Barry Everitt
penalty and Armitage's conversion halted a barren run stretching back to their
9-3 win against Sale on November 30 last year.
Irish, though, hardly needed to work up a sweat against a shambolic Saracens
side who could only muster a single Nicky Little penalty.
Visiting coach Rod Kafer's gamble on untried fly-half Ben Russell was exposed
after 40 minutes and any momentum error-prone Saracens generated was lost when
Raphael Ibanez and Simon Raiwalui were both sent to the sin-bin.
The immediate future looks grim, too, after they lost England flanker Richard
Hill to a knee injury shortly before half-time.
Irish had rejigged their back-row for this game, bringing in Declan Danaher
and Phil Murphy, with Scott Staniforth and Michael Horak starting at wing and
full-back as they searched for a second win of the season.
Saracens, though, had opted for rather more drastic surgery by replacing
Little at fly-half with the untried Russell.
The 20-year-old was handed his first Premiership start for Saracens after
moving to the club from Northampton in the summer.
Russell struggled, though, with a succession of poor kicks and a couple of
missed tackles and he was eventually put out of his misery at the interval.
Perhaps he was dragged down to the standard of those around him in a truly
dreadful opening half as both sides kicked possession away with abandon.
Irish, though, were more enterprising, particularly when they avoided the
combative Saracens back row and when wings Bishop and Staniforth got their
hands on the ball.
And after visiting hooker Ibanez was sin-binned for handling in a ruck,
Everitt got the scoreboard moving with a straightforward penalty on the
half-hour.
That was the cue for some concerted Irish pressure and their first try a
minute before the break.
The move was started by Mike Catt when he launched a counter-attack from deep
and several phases later the overlap was engineered for Bishop to slide into the
right-hand corner.
A bleak afternoon for Saracens got worse when Hill was carried off with a
injury to his left knee and the World Cup winner did not reappear in the second
half.
His side immediately dug themselves into deeper trouble when Raiwalui - only
on the field for 10 minutes - earned himself a yellow card for a stamp on
Murphy.
They rallied briefly for Little to pull back three points with his second
penalty attempt 11 minutes from time.
But Irish picked up the pace again and struck twice in the last six minutes to
make sure of the points.
A cleverly-worked move off the back of a close-range scrum in the 74th minute
saw Kieron Dawson spin down the blindside for replacement centre Armitage to
slide over in the corner.
Then, as Saracens tried to attack from deep, they lost the ball in midfield
for Horak to break a tackle and touch down under the posts with Armitage adding
the simple conversion.
Teams:
London Irish: Horak, Bishop, Appleford, Catt, Staniforth,
Everitt, Hodgson, Hatley, Russell, Hardwick, Kennedy, Casey,
Danaher, Dawson, Murphy.
Replacements: Armitage for Catt (64), Mordt for Everitt (59),
Edwards for Hodgson (61), Durant for Hardwick (77),
Strudwick for Kennedy (59), Roche for Murphy (57).
Not Used: Paice.
Tries: Bishop, Armitage, Horak.
Cons: Armitage.
Pens: Everitt.
Saracens: Kydd, Haughton, Castaignede, Sorrell, Bailey,
B. Russell, Bracken, Yates, Ibanez, Broster, Chesney, Vyvyan,
Hill, Seymour, Randell.
Replacements: Johnston for Haughton (57),
Little for B. Russell (40), Raulini for Bracken (60),
Lloyd for Yates (69), Cairns for Ibanez (50),
Raiwalui for Chesney (50), Skirving for Hill (39).
Sin Bin: Ibanez (28), Raiwalui (52).
Pens: Little.
Att: 7,047
Ref: David Rose (Birmingham).
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