Report: London Irish Battle to a 23-7 win over Bristol Bears
London Irish faught hard for a 23-7 win over Bristol Bears in Round 15 of the Gallagher Premiership, extending a run of four consecutive wins at the Gtech Community Stadium in domestic competition.
Gabriel Ibitoye started with promising early runs in the rain. He found himself deep in Irish territory but the hosts won a defensive penalty that allowed late replacement flyhalf Rory Jennings to clear for touch.
Playing in the right areas of the field paid off for Irish as they subsequently won a maul penalty closer to the touch line which Jennings slotted in for an early three points in the third minute.
Bristol Bears soon found their teeth in attack with scrumhalf Andy Uren combining well with the rest of the backline to create space for Semi Radradra and his midfield partner Ioan Lloyd only to run out of space out wide.
The Bears’ relentless attack was soon rewarded in the 19th minute when hooker Harry Thacker found the try line after six phases from a lineout ball that put his team ahead by 3 -7 before Aj MacGinty added the two.
Irish only needed 8 minutes to reply through the quick thinking of Ben White who quick tapped of the maul penalty to allow Irish to score in the corner through Benhard Van Resnburg. The accurate boot of Jennings added the extras.
Bristol Bears continued to be their own worst enemy with a knock on in the midfield allowing London Irish to regain possession and pass the ball out wide. Ben White exploited this defense to score his team’s second try in the 38th minute with Jennings converting.
At half time the score was 17- 7 in favour of Irish.
The hosts won an early second half penalty which Jennings slotted to stretch the lead.
The nightmare afternoon continued for Bears who lost speed merchant Ibitoye through injury and had to be replaced.
Pat Lam, the Bristol Bears coach tried to make changes to gain some ascendancy in the scrum as both Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler struggled to find dominance at set piece.
Yan Thomas came on to win his 100th cap in the competition but that did not stop Irish from winning another maul penalty which Jennings converted.
Jennings added another three points from the kicking tee in the 78th minute to put the losing bonus point out of reach for Bristol Bears bringing his teams lead to 23-7 with two minutes to play.
Both teams look ahead to international competition. London Irish will host DHL Stormers in the Champions Cup, looking to flip the result from Capetown while Bears travel to Italy to face Zebre.
London Irish: Tries: Janse van Rensburg (29), White (40); Conversions: Jennings (30) (40); Penalties: Jennings (8) (41) (76).
Bristol Bears: Tries: Thacker (20); Conversions: MacGinty (20).
