LONDON IRISH kept their slim Premiership survival hopes alive with victory over Worcester at Madejski Stadium this afternoon, a first league win since September.
The Exiles came into the game having lost 14 straight Premiership games since victory on the opening day, while second-bottom Worcester were boosted by two wins in the last two weeks.
Penalties proved to be the key with Greig Tonks’ five successful kicks added to a first half Piet van Zyl try enough to clinch a 22-9 win which reduces the gap between Irish and Warriors to 12 points at the foot of the table.
Alex Lewington lined up for his 100th London Irish appearance while there were two changes to the side which lost at Northampton Saints last week with Conor Gilsenan and Johnny Williams replacing Max Northcote-Green and Luke McLean.
Knowing victory was essential to keep any fading survival hopes alive, the Exiles got off to a nightmare start with Teofilo Paulo sent to the sin-bin after just two minutes for an off the ball tackle.
That allowed Chris Pennell up to kick Worcester into an early lead.
But the hosts responded well and showed no signs of struggling with a man less, quickly levelling the contest. A clever chip through from Lewington found van Zyl, who was stopped just short of the line, allowing Warriors to get back.
While they prevented the try, they did concede a penalty where Tonks made no mistake.
And back up to their full complement, Irish got their noses in front with another penalty from Tonks, won after a brilliant gather from the impressive Arno Botha.
Nick Kennedy’s men then went one better, grabbing the first try of the contest. A poor kick from Ryan Mills was gathered by James Marshall, who popped the ball to van Zyl and the scrum half gathered his own kick through to fly over the line.
It could have been even better but Irish could not quite get over the line, allowing Worcester to build up the field and reduce the deficit to 13-6 before the break with another
Pennell penalty.
Both sides continued to struggle to force try opportunities after the restart but Irish did add three more points to their tally. Minutes after Tonks had shanked a tricky kick wide of the posts, he slotted one down the middle to extend Irish’s lead to 10 points again.
Pennell reduced the arrears to within losing bonus point territory again heading into the final 20 minutes to the game finely poised.
Irish had the chance to ease some nerves heading into the closing stages after being awarded a penalty, but Tonks was off target while shortly afterwards Marshall broke through but his pass was wayward.
However, the Scot made no mistake with two successful kicks in the final three minutes to secure a huge victory to keep their flickering survival dreams alive.
LONDON IRISH: Marshall, Cokanasiga, Fowlie, J. Williams, Lewington, Tonks, van Zyl (Steele 61), Franks (Elrington 58), Paice (Porecki 58), Hoskins (Du Plessis 58), van der Merwe (c), Paulo (De Chaves 68), Botha, Gilsenan, Treviranus (Schatz 65).
Reps not used: Bell, Tikoirotuma.
Try: van Zyl (27)
Con: Tonks (28)
Pens: Tonks x5 (7,18,53,77,80)
Sin-bin: Paulo (3)
WORCESTER: Adams, Heem, Pennell, Mills, Hammond, Shillcock, Hougaard (Arr 40), Waller, Haupt, Schonert, O’Callaghan (c) (Bresler 40), Barry, Faosiliva (Cox 66), Lewis, van Velze.
Reps not used: M. Williams, Bower, Milasinovich, Spencer, Howe.
Pens: Pennell x3 (3,37,60)
Scoring sequence (Irish first): 0-3, 3-3, 6-3, 11-3, 13-3, 13-6, 16-6, 16-9, 19-9, 22-9.
Referee: JP Doyle
Attendance:
