Post by Jamie Crawford on May 2, 2017 8:08:01 GMT
Saturday 6th May Madjeski stadium, KO 13.15
As the website match report states, “If the Knights are to make it to the Greene King IPA Championship final for a second season they will need to turn a 32-point deficit as they were outscored by six tries to nil by an impressive London Irish outfit.
It was a dominant performance by Irish who, in all honesty, never looked like faltering in their first appearance in the Greene King IPA Championship play-offs. Imperious defence frustrated the Knights who enjoyed more than their fair share of possession but struggled to make inroads against a seemingly impenetrable wall of green.”
We can live in hope but Irish’s superior class, experience and much deeper pockets were very apparent. Nobody expects the Knights to overcome a 32-point deficit at the Lion’s den but as Dewi Morris stated on Sky during coverage of the game, Donny can beat anyone on their day. He also said that the Championship is a league of the have’s and have-not’s.
Irish have a 40-player squad, with 28 players that have International experience 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!
Plus the Irish exiles received a £1.3m parachute payment plus their regular playing budget and sponsors. (www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/can-london-irish-hold-it-together-as-they-prepare-for-2m-shootout-a3225721.html)
The Knights have-not. The Knights squad runs to 29 with a significantly inferior budget.
The Knights love the underdog role and they’ve certainly got that this Saturday and again the pressure is all on the Irish. However they had all the pressure last Sunday at Castle Park and their collective experience shone, the Irish exiles seemed to revel in the pressure. As the Irish DoR Nick Kennedy has stated, all season they have aimed to peak at the end for the Play-offs and so it seems that the Knights are facing a better team than demolished all Championship opposition during the first part of the season.
With all of that said, the Knights did not have the luck of the bounce – the unpredictability of the bounce of a rugby ball! There were two occasions in the first half when good vision saw the space and a kick was put in the air. The first one should have bounced into touch and resulted in a 5m attacking lineout, instead it kicked forward as it bounced it went into touch just the wrong side of the flag. The second was one that Dougie chased and caught the high bounce, only to touch down just out of play. Dougie couldn’t have grounded it any quicker but perhaps a lower bounce or bounce towards Dougie’s hands might have led to a try scored before the dead ball line, centrally and so ‘hopefully’ seven points. Perhaps the kick-chase is a good option to use with the impenetrability of the Irish defence. Or possibly quick ball from the set piece and then cutting inside behind the crouched forwards.
Somehow Dougie missed a kick that I get every time in my sleep (dreams) and Dougie scores 99+% of the time but I’d guess that he allowed for the gusty wind and it died as he kicked it, so the kick went wide!
Nobody can say that the lineout would have led to a try, in all likelihood it wouldn’t but it just demonstrates our poor luck at that time. However ten points were left on the field in the first half and coming back out 13-10 up rather than 3-10 down puts a different perspective on the game.
I’m probably wearing those glasses with a pinkish tint again because the half-time stats showed that we made 123m from our 68 carries compared to Irish’s 262m from 29 carries. We also missed 10 of our 40 tackles compared to the Irish missing four from their 75. Although we had most of the possession, the Irish made their possession count. That said our discipline was good.
On Sunday 1st May on Twitter, “London Irish in a 'good place' according to Technical Director @brendanventer” It’s down to the Knights to try to put London Irish in a bad place.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
As the website match report states, “If the Knights are to make it to the Greene King IPA Championship final for a second season they will need to turn a 32-point deficit as they were outscored by six tries to nil by an impressive London Irish outfit.
It was a dominant performance by Irish who, in all honesty, never looked like faltering in their first appearance in the Greene King IPA Championship play-offs. Imperious defence frustrated the Knights who enjoyed more than their fair share of possession but struggled to make inroads against a seemingly impenetrable wall of green.”
We can live in hope but Irish’s superior class, experience and much deeper pockets were very apparent. Nobody expects the Knights to overcome a 32-point deficit at the Lion’s den but as Dewi Morris stated on Sky during coverage of the game, Donny can beat anyone on their day. He also said that the Championship is a league of the have’s and have-not’s.
Irish have a 40-player squad, with 28 players that have International experience 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!
Plus the Irish exiles received a £1.3m parachute payment plus their regular playing budget and sponsors. (www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/can-london-irish-hold-it-together-as-they-prepare-for-2m-shootout-a3225721.html)
The Knights have-not. The Knights squad runs to 29 with a significantly inferior budget.
The Knights love the underdog role and they’ve certainly got that this Saturday and again the pressure is all on the Irish. However they had all the pressure last Sunday at Castle Park and their collective experience shone, the Irish exiles seemed to revel in the pressure. As the Irish DoR Nick Kennedy has stated, all season they have aimed to peak at the end for the Play-offs and so it seems that the Knights are facing a better team than demolished all Championship opposition during the first part of the season.
With all of that said, the Knights did not have the luck of the bounce – the unpredictability of the bounce of a rugby ball! There were two occasions in the first half when good vision saw the space and a kick was put in the air. The first one should have bounced into touch and resulted in a 5m attacking lineout, instead it kicked forward as it bounced it went into touch just the wrong side of the flag. The second was one that Dougie chased and caught the high bounce, only to touch down just out of play. Dougie couldn’t have grounded it any quicker but perhaps a lower bounce or bounce towards Dougie’s hands might have led to a try scored before the dead ball line, centrally and so ‘hopefully’ seven points. Perhaps the kick-chase is a good option to use with the impenetrability of the Irish defence. Or possibly quick ball from the set piece and then cutting inside behind the crouched forwards.
Somehow Dougie missed a kick that I get every time in my sleep (dreams) and Dougie scores 99+% of the time but I’d guess that he allowed for the gusty wind and it died as he kicked it, so the kick went wide!
Nobody can say that the lineout would have led to a try, in all likelihood it wouldn’t but it just demonstrates our poor luck at that time. However ten points were left on the field in the first half and coming back out 13-10 up rather than 3-10 down puts a different perspective on the game.
I’m probably wearing those glasses with a pinkish tint again because the half-time stats showed that we made 123m from our 68 carries compared to Irish’s 262m from 29 carries. We also missed 10 of our 40 tackles compared to the Irish missing four from their 75. Although we had most of the possession, the Irish made their possession count. That said our discipline was good.
On Sunday 1st May on Twitter, “London Irish in a 'good place' according to Technical Director @brendanventer” It’s down to the Knights to try to put London Irish in a bad place.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
(and if they win by 33+ points possibly next weekend 
)
