Report: London Irish 42 – 24 Harlequins
London Irish 42 (28) Cunningham-South, Dykes (3), Stokes, Pearson
Cons: Jackson (6)
Harlequins 24 (12) Penalty try , Allan, Basset, Lamb
Cons: PT, Allan (1)
A Michael Dykes hat-trick on his Gallagher Premiership debut helped London Irish to an impressive if occasionally sloppy 42-24 home victory against Harlequins.
The result sees Irish draw level on points with sixth-placed Quins and condemned the visitors to a fourth successive league defeat.
A raucous Gtech crowd were given plenty to cheer about early on as Irish immediately had Harlequins on the back foot. That dominance told inside four minutes as number eight Chandler Cunningham-South scored the game’s first try following an effective maul after an Irish lineout. This was to set the tone somewhat for the rest of the game.
The Exiles quickly gave themselves a further cushion as Dykes put them 12 points clear. It followed more superb work from the Irish pack which Cunningham-South again was at the heart of. They collected the ball from the subsequent kick-off and ruthlessly overpowered Quins at successive breakdowns before they reached their opponents’ 22-yard line – superb hands allowed them to carve open the visitors’ defence from there and it was clear that Quins were facing an uphill battle.
With the score at 14-0, the makeshift Quins were finally able to steady themselves and stem the Irish flow as Irish’s own previously steadfast approach to the game seemed to slacken.
Cunningham-South was fortunate not to face any action for a suspiciously high-looking tackle before Dykes was shown a yellow card for knocking on and preventing a certain Quins try.
The officials gave Quins seven points as well as a temporary man-advantage.
Still, points on the board and an extra man on the pitch apparently weren’t enough to rally Harlequins. Immediately from kick-off they let James Stokes waltz through and Jackson’s boot made it 21-7.
Things then got even worse for the visitors when captain Stephan Lewies received a red card for a high clear out on Cunningham-South who couldn’t keep himself out of the thick of the action.
However, with Dykes still in the sin-bin both sides had 14 on the pitch and Quins sensed an opportunity. They took advantage of the additional space now available and worked the ball well from wing to wing.
This eventually allowed Tommy Allan to touch down, deservedly rounding off Quins’ patient play.
When Dykes came back out of the sin-bin he almost immediately added a second try and on the stoke of half-time he did exactly that to make it 28-12 at the interval.
The home crowd were optimistic that the second half would look more routine than the first and it started with a fifth try for their side. It was an impressive third for the effervescent Dykes as the academy graduate more than made amends for his first half foul-play.
Quins weren’t entirely finished though and Josh Bassett made it a respectable 35-17 with half an hour left after Andre Esterhuizen pounced on an overthrown Irish lineout. He drew his opposing full-back and offloaded to Bassett who showed a clean pair of heels with a beautifully balanced run through the backtracking Irish defence.
Allan saw his subsequent conversion cannon back off the post but couldn’t miss minutes later when Dino Lamb was able to ground the ball under the posts.
With 10 minutes left and the score a slightly tetchy 35-24, Irish had to start making their man-advantage count and subsequently set up camp in Quins’ 22. Lucio Cinti was twice unable to get a firm hand on the ball when doing so would have resulted in a certain try, but Irish’s tactics had Quins rattled – they went down to 13 men as Joe Marler received a yellow card via a team penalty.
Tom Pearson added a deserved sixth try for Irish before the 80 minutes were up as Quins continued to tire. Irish inevitably dominated the breakdowns with their two-man advantage and pegged Quins back inside their own five-metre line. The 23-year-old was eventually able to find a gap to drive through and cap an excellent afternoon for Irish and their academy.
Afterwards, both coaches were sympathetic towards Lewies. Quins’ director of rugby, Tabai Matson, didn’t dispute the decision but said he felt there was little else the forward could have done because his opponent’s head was below waist level, which tacklers are not technically supposed to do.
There was, however, little attempt to wrap his arms around his opponent, as per the laws of the game.
He said: “When I saw it I knew it was probably going to be a red but contact in the breakdown is difficult to regulate, and much harder than in the tackle area.
“Even though we had 14 players on the field, we scored some decent tries and it was a nice comeback but it was too little too late and we are dropping down the ladder.”
“We’re a mid-table side, that’s the brutal reality.”
London Irish head coach Les Kiss said: “We owed ourselves that performance against them but the competition is very tough and every single point counts.
“The breakdown is a very challenging area and although it was a rugby incident, I thought the officials went through the correct process to arrive at the right decision as players’ safety is paramount.”
