Post by Jamie Crawford on Apr 20, 2017 10:59:36 GMT
Sunday 30th April, KO 15.00
No rugby for a fortnight, so an early preview to hopefully stimulate anticipation OK it’s only 10 days early, not a fortnight! Will we win?
I think we will win (just) at Castle Park but lose at Madjeski Stadium and the Irish will have the best cumulative score to then play Carnegie in the Final. Irish are a great team but on our day we are a match for anyone, so with vocal home support let’s make London Irish have to play 16 men.
I also think that Carnegie will beat Ealing Trailfinders over both legs; perhaps not in Ealing on their plastic pitch even though Carnegie beat them 13-35 in the first game of the season. Since then only the Pirates and the Irish have beaten the Trailfinders at home this season. Each loss was very close; the Trailfinders lost both home games by a total of six points. Headingly will be a different prospect.
A fortnight ago London Irish proved to be too strong for the Knights as they won the final league game of the season 22-5. We now play them again at Castle Park in the semi-finals of the Greene King IPA Championship play-offs. Leg Two is at Madjeski Stadium in Oxford, the home of the Irish exiles on Saturday 6th May. The Yorkshire Press’ headline for the report was, “Doncaster Knights 5 London Irish 22 - Knights given indication of tough task on the horizon.”
The Knights are under no illusion of the task facing them over the next two games. The Irish exiles have only lost once in the Championship and that was only by four points at St. Peter’s in Jersey (15–11). The Knights have been beaten twice by the Irish and so have eight other teams. As mentoned Jersey beat the Irish by four points at St. Peter’s but lost by over three times that at the Madjeski Stadium. (42-29).
The Knights didn’t have a particularly ‘bad day at the office’ last time out against the Irish exiles, they were just out-played by a vastly more experienced and expensive side full of Internationals. The encouraging point is that a few errors were made and without these Irish would not have scored a couple of tries and the Knights would have scored one plus who knows?
Looking at Irish’s 40-player squad, I make it that there are 28 players with International honours ranging from age group to British Lions and two World Cup winning medals. There are just a dozen members of the Irish squad without any International honours but all with Premiership or equivalent experience!
The Irish exiles received a £1.3m parachute payment plus their regular playing budget and sponsors – a tad more than the Knights’ playing budget! (http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/can-london-irish-hold-it-together-as-they-prepare-for-2m-shootout-a3225721.html)
The Knights played valiantly and it was felt that the score line was perhaps a little harsh on the Knights who were competitive for the vast majority of the tie. The period that did the damage was just after oranges when a brace of tries scored in quick succession gave the Irish a 22-point lead.
The Knights failed to take advantage of Irish’s reduced numbers after Tommy Bell blocked Andy Bulamakau without using his arms. Some might say that this non-attempt at a tackle against a dangerous attacking player was cynical and deserved a red card; others would argue that it’s a contact sport and all players will do whatever they can get away with.
The Yorkshire Post (YP) reported, “…Bell was fortunate not to see red after using his shoulder but not his arms on the centre…” Perhaps London Irish would be playing with a man down for fifteen minutes on another day. (Bell was carded after 65 mins).
There was even a period of five minutes when the Knights had a two-man advantage after Tikoirotuma was also sin-binned five minutes after Bell (70 mins) but the visitors held fast and no points were conceded. A penalty try and centre handling errors ‘gifted’ the Irish fourteen points; they would have still won without these points but if the score was 8-5 towards the end who knows how the players would have reacted? The Irish may have felt more pressure which might have led to an error or the Knights might have felt more encouraged and motivated to score. Unanswerable questions but it’s motivating that they can be asked.
The Knights will be encouraged by their own performance as points were available, the YP reported, “…Lewis blew a three-man overlap when going himself and being tackled and the Exiles - who showed great resilience and spirit - rallied further to protect their line until the dying moments…” That said, Tyson’s try after 79 minutes was magnificent and the home fans were elated; if only that could have been say 70 minutes earlier, the scores may have been different.
Looking forward the YP stated, “…the Knights - who can play much better than this and did reach the final last term - will have rested full-back Paul Jarvis and in-form flanker Jack Ram to come back into the mix. Furthermore, they will rue missed opportunities in an error-ridden first half that saw them trail just 8-0.More composure there and they could have made life more difficult for the visitors…”
The Irish line was frequently broken after danger-man Latu Makaafi came on; perhaps the Knights would have been encouraged if Latu started?
After Saturday’s defeat, Griff was quoted in the Star on Mon 17th April, ““It’s a trilogy if you like; they won the first one and we’ve got to try and win the next two.” Griff added, “We know we will have to play better in the play-off games, when we’ll have a couple of players back, but we’ve shown that we can break their defence and they’ll know they can’t afford to treat us lightly.”" The Star’s title for the piece was, “The battle may be lost but Doncaster Knights can still win the war, says chief Clive Griffiths.”
Lessons have been learned and there is plenty to be optimistic about as Griff has indicated in the Star. The Irish are heavy favourites and are expected to win, so the pressure is on them to perform and score. Which team will have managed/savoured/utilized the 15-day break the best?
We now know that Ealing Trailfinders play(ed) Carnegie in the other Promotion Play-off on Friday 28th.
The second leg is played at Headingly on Friday 5th May (KO 1945)
Our own second leg is at the Madjeski Stadium on Saturday 6th May (KO 13.15).
“Here’s a quick quiz for you: Since the turn of the century (2000/2001 season), how many different teams have been relegated from England’s top flight?
Answer: Eight. Rotherham (twice), Leeds (three times), Bristol (twice), Worcester (twice), London Welsh (twice), Newcastle, Northampton, Harlequins.”
(http://www.rugbyworld.com/countries/england-countries/what-lies-beneath-55769) EDIT, Nine. Since the article as London Irish need to be added to that list.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
