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Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
By Props Are Not Stupid
November 4 2008
Caimh explained before the game all different permutations needed for London Irish to get through the semifinals. We had to win by a clear 4 match points and hope that Quins would win away at Worcester. Well, that was a no brainer, Quins had nothing to play for ...
...all their England stars would not feature and they were also required to play the second half after the half break. Basically, we had no chance to go through the semis.

So, why did we field the best available team? I imagine we didn’t want to get beaten too badly by the EDF champions, the Ospreys.

20081102_JoneAsMascot


The highlights of this game for me was having my daughter leading the team with Bob Casey as she was the Digger mascot for the day. She received a letter from Digger a month ago inviting her to be the mascot for this day, as she was very excited about it. She said that Bob was very big, but he didn’t have a big belly like daddy’s. It is amazing to see the world through the eyes of a 5 year old who thinks that Digger is a real dog that walks on two legs and supports London Irish. She got to keep the shirt and will soon receive the photo of her with Big Bob and Digger, signed by both of them. This would cost a few hundred pounds in other clubs, but with London Irish it is free; the mascot is selected randomly from the Digger Club members. It says a lot about London Irish wanting to keep the family club ethos at the same time as running a business with great professionalism. Jone would like to thank Digger and all his friends for giving her this opportunity and she is looking forward to being the mascot again one day.

Let’s talk about the game now. I was looking forward to the duels between Mapusua and Gavin Henson and also Shane Williams against Tagi. The first few minutes of the game showed that Tagi is faster than Williams, as he got there first when they were both chasing a long defensive kick by Ospreys.

On the 13th minute Hook got the first three points of the game against the run of play after converting a penalty for offside at the breakdown.

Three minutes later Hewat hit the post from a long penalty with what was going to be his only miss of the day.

I can’t believe I have written this much without mentioning the most hideous rugby shirts my eyes have ever witnessed, a tight fit bright orange rubberlike material that looked even worse when I watched it on telly later. That combined with listening to Jonathan Davies makes me want to do an Elvis and shoot my TV down.

Hook got another 3 points on 20 minutes, but Irish are playing well and dominating the game, backs and forwards combine well with ball in hand, and a good defence by Ospreys keep Irish away from their try line, but Mapusua was unstoppable and scored on 25 minutes after a few phases on the Ospreys 22. Hewat converted and LI were 7-6 in front. Gavin Henson wasn’t even close of bringing Mapusua down, so that’s the second duel decided too.

Mad Monk in front of me tells me that Quins are winning, I do not really care as I know that they are going to give up in the second half.

31st minute and we are now 10-7 up as Ospreys were caught offside. Ospreys still have their losing bonus point, so still work to do if we want to go through, which is now looking like a distinct possibility.

On 33 minutes Henson sent a hospital pass to Tommy Bowe, who loses the ball. Tagi picks up and runs, both Ospreys wingers chase him but he avoids being tackled and has even got the legs to salute the fans and score under the post as advised by Hewat, who was running in support. Easy conversion and we are 17-6 up, and Mad Monk tells me that Wuss are getting hammered.

The next 5 minutes are all about this silly ping pong rugby that we have been accustomed to with the ELVs. Hewit ends this nonsense with a great kick and Topsy could not control yet another interception when he looked certain to score.

Half time comes. We have all the territory, all the possession and we are playing some champagne rugby. Quins are beating Wuss 20-7 and it is looking like unless it all goes belly up in Worcester it’s job done. Oh man of tille faith, I was so wrong about today! Thanks God I am not the London Irish coach. ;-)

Second half comes and we have the luxury of Mike Catt and Kieran Roche on the bench. Hewat puts us 20-6 up after converting a long penalty kick and we are already doing a Hamilton, smelling the silverware a tad too early.

Hook converts another penalty, but it is still an 11 points gap, 20-9. Hewat misses a drop goal shortly after. Ospreys enjoy some meaningful possession and Nikki Walker scores in the corner. The difficult conversion leaves the scores as 20-16 for Irish with 24 minutes left to play. This score is no good for us and Kieran Roche comes into the second row replacing James Hudson. Worcester are fighting back and are losing 14-20 to Quins. Things are not looking so rosy now, as we need a try or two penalties to avoid Ospreys getting the bonus point. We need some direction and Catty comes on for Shane.

Ian Gough headbutts Declan Danahar in front of the ref and in front of the posts. Thanks very much, three easy points for us and Declan didn’t even feel it as Gough was wearing a nice padded headguard.

Irish now concede a penalty for hands in the ruck inside the Ospreys half. Hook gets the massive kick, scores being now 23-19. The most controversial decision by Mr Small comes now, as a long kick by Mapusua into the goal area is pushed out of bounds by Tommy Bowe. At the game it looked to me as a clear penalty try and a yellow card for Bowe. I now have watched it and slow motioned it a few times on telly and I am still convinced that Mr Small got it wrong. Jonathan Davies surprisingly does not agree with me, but I’ll let him off this time. A couple of minutes later a try for Ospreys was disallowed for a suspicious knock on decision, and as the Ospreys enjoyed possession in our 22 Elvis intercepts a pass but knocks on.

The last 8 minutes were a nail biter, Worcester were still trailing by 6 points, anything could happen in that game and anything could happen at the Madejski, but scores didn’t move at either ground. We clearly deserved to win this game and we did. Ospreys fans said to me that the best team didn’t go through and they are probably right, but our defeat at Worcester in the first leg of the competition left things too complicated for us. Still, we all witnessed a great game that went to the wire. The players must be proud of their performance today and take this win and style of play into the other two competitions we are still involved in.


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Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: The Craic www.londonirish.org (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 08:32

Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: bisach (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 08:38

Thank God he didn't do as promised and write it in Welsh.

Cheers PANS.

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: Griff (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 10:01

If anyone can explain the "4 match points difference" requirement quoted by Caimh I'd love to know. As far as I can see from the tourney rules the first requirement is game results between the tying teams (i.e. had we beaten Ospreys and tied them on league points we'd be through). If we'd been three-way tied it goes on match points between the three clubs - if they're all equal (and they wouldn't have been) it goes to tries scored before it takes any account of match points scored.

So far as I can see the match points were VERY unlikely to affect our outcome.

Anyone got better info - I'm going by the [http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyunion/edf_energy_cup_standings/]competition rules[/url] posted by Jonny Irish on an earlier thread.

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: Props are not stupid (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 10:07

I could have used this very fine Welsh translator service, Bisach.... (Sm133)

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: AlecW (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 10:10

Good report Aitor - thanks!

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: Mike_LI (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 10:28

I thought "match points" were the 4 for winning and/or bonus points, so 4 clear points in that if they got the losing bonus point, we'd need the try bonus.

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: mulledwinemarie (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 11:00

MIKE - yes you are correct - you win.

good report PANS - of course if you had arrived earlier you could have wirtten more........[:wor kid:]

MWM

London Irish - and loving it...........

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: Griff (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 11:19

Then what are the points scored in a match called ?

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: mulledwinemarie (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 11:39

MATCH POINTS
WIN POINTS
LOSING BONUS POINT
TRY BONUS POINT

MWM

London Irish - and loving it...........

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: mackemII (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 12:04

Quote:
Griff
Then what are the points scored in a match called ?

Try, conversion, penalty, drop goal and penalty try Griff?(Sm151)

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: russell o'callaghan (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 16:09

I take exception to this report. Great exception. Normally I find myself in complete agreement with items contributed by PANS, but this time I can only excuse him on the grounds that he's had some kind of bl00dy brainstorm.

"It is amazing to see the world through the eyes of a five year old who thinks that Digger is a real dog that stands on two legs and supports London Irish."

Well, PANS, I've seen some non-scientific drivel in the papers of late, but this really takes the ship's biscuit. "Thinks". "THINKS" Digger is a dog!! Let's just look at the evidence. There's Digger with all the obvious (well, obvious to everyone bar you) accoutrements of a dog, fur, big black nose, big ears, gruff voice. Why can you not see what upwards of ten thousand (including a five year-old, for cryin' out loud) can see. Surely a lifetime in an enlightened scientific age has taught you to put aside the drivel that you're told and believe the evidence of your own two eyes. He's a wolfhound for Krissakes; of course he supports London Irish. Who the hell else would a wolfhound support, eh?

I heard the selfsame unfounded tripe from Lynne last weekend when I was asking her which of two hiking socks I should use this Christmas Eve for my granddaughter and myself. You should have heard the garbage she came out with. I don't even have a dad anymore, so that just can't even possibly be true.

Russell

PS. I've just told our Hannah what you've written and she thinks you're clearly a fully paid up rate-payer of the London Borough of Barking. And she's a tortoiseshell tabby, so she should know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:11:04:16:12:58 by russell o'callaghan.

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: Props are not stupid (IP Logged)
Date: 04/11/2008 20:11

I'll have whatever you are drinking, Russ! (Sm128)

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Re: Who cares about the EDF? We do, apparently!
Posted by: JoeV (IP Logged)
Date: 05/11/2008 09:31

Have to agree Russ - good report generally but the Digger slur just spoiled it a bit. Write the facts not rumour and supposition - so keep your Dog-not-Dog conspiracy theories to yourself (Sm102)(Sm102)

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