“WE WANT the fans to expect us to win.”
That was the message from London Irish assistant coach Clark Laidlaw as the Exiles cruised to their sixth win from six this season by beating London Welsh 35-12.
After regular seasons of struggles in the Aviva Premiership, winning just four matches as they were relegated last season, growing crowds at Madejski Stadium are pleased to see a victorious Irish side again.
Over 4,000 were in attendance for the ‘Battle of the Exiles’ to see Nick Kennedy’s men notch another bonus-point victory thanks to tries from Fergus Mulchrone, David Paice, who was making his 250th appearance for the club, Sebastian De Chaves and Brendan McKibbin.
And Laidlaw is relieved to see his side no longer go into every match as second favourite.
“We want the fans to expect us to win,” said Laidlaw.
“I think that pressure is good.
“You don’t want to be the underdog all the time.
“If you’re the underdog it means you’re not very good.
“We want to be dominating and we want the expectation to be high.
He added: “I think as long as the management really challenge the players each week and we strive to get better then that will keep the pressure on the players.
“We’ve got a strong squad so if players aren’t performing well and their effort’s not there then we will just have to rotate other players in.
“I think we’re in a good spot with that but it is up to the management and the players together to keep challenging each other.”
Laidlaw is one of the few remaining faces on the coaching staff from last season.
Following director of rugby Tom Coventry’s resignation, Kennedy stepped up to work alongside new technical director Brendan Venter and coaches Laidlaw, Paul Hodgson, Declan Danaher and George Skivington.
And the Scot heaped praise on the way Kennedy has quickly got the team into a winning mode again.
“It has possibly gone a bit better than expected,” admitted Laidlaw.
“When we started in pre-season Brendan came in really late.
“We didn’t have a lot of time to organise but I think Nick can take a lot of credit around the way he’s organised the staff and coaches.
“I’ve been in a lot of different environments but I think this is the most organised a coaching group have been on a daily basis and a weekly basis in building our game with a real pro-active mentality.
“I think Nick and Brendan and the rest of the staff should take a real pat on the back for that.
“It’s making our training and preparation during the week really thorough and I think the players are really benefiting from that.”
