London Irish 48 Agen 10
JOHNNY WILLIAMS and Joe Trayfoot both celebrated debut tries for a London Irish side which enjoyed a perfect start to their European Challenge Cup campaign.
Sean Maitland also ran in his first score in Exiles’ colours, while four of the eight tries scored by the hosts at Madejski Stadium were shared between Gerard Ellis and Alex Lewington.
Chris Noakes also kicked over eight points from conversions for Irish in this Pool 5 contest.
Both sides went into the contest sitting bottom of their respective domestic competitions, and with the hosts still looking to taste victory for the first time this term.
But it was French Top 14 strugglers Agen who opened the scoring early on through the boot of Francois Bouvier, who slotted over a penalty from the tee.
Yet they were not to lead the fixture for long, as Darren Allinson sent Aseli Tikoirotuma on his way, with the Fijian surging forward and playing in senior Academy star Williams to open his account for the club on 10 minutes.
Noakes, though, missed the conversion.
With momentum now on their side, Tom Coventry’s men were soon doubling their lead through Ellis who, having bundled his way through a couple of challenges, crashed over the line from 20 metres.
Next to go over was Trayfoot, who capitalised on powerful work from the forwards at a driving maul to stretch the lead, along with Noakes’ extras, to 17-3, before Ellis racked up the bonus point when crossing the game line two minutes before the break.
Noakes again cleared the posts and Irish went in at the interval looking odds on to break their duck for the season having already put 24 points on their guests.
And there was to be no holding up from Exiles in the second half, either.
On the overlap, Lewington started his tally of tries for the afternoon when running on to Noakes’ kicked pass to dab down, but the latter this time shanked his conversion wide.
He did, however, find the range when putting his side 36-3 ahead, adding the extras after Wales international McCusker finished off a flowing move involving Maitland, Allinson and Tikorotuma.
Next to add his name to the scoresheet was Maitland.
Winning turnover ball inside their own 10-metre line saw Irish work the ball to Tikorotuma, whose pace was again just too much for Agen to handle.
Driving forward, the winger would eventually release for Maitland to complete the simple task of running the ball under the posts. Noakes knocked over the conversion from close range and the scoreboard now read 43-3.
Agen, who arrived in Berkshire propping up the likes of ASM Clermont Auvergne, Toulon and Irish’s next opponents, Grenoble, back across the channel, were now playing for nothing but pride – but they did put another score on their opponents late on.
A rare spell of possession in Exiles territory yielded a try for Felicien Vergnon, with Clement Darbo kicking over the additional two points to cut the gap somewhat.
But it would turn out to be scant consolation, as Lewington capped off a comfortable afternoon for the Aviva Premoership side when wrapping up the scoring late on.
Despite losing Tom Cruse to a yellow card, the 10 men of Irish charged on, and sharp work from Trayfoot, Dominic Waldouck and Allinson presented Allinson to go over once more, needing no second invitation as he scored in the corner.
With Noakes now off the field, kicking responsibility belong to Theo Brophy-Clews, but he was off target with his kick.
Irish make the trip across the Channel and over to south east France next Saturday, where a sterner test is likely to await the side in Grenoble.
Kick-off is 8.45pm.
LONDON IRISH: Sean Maitland; Alex Lewington; Aseli Tikoirotuma; Johnny Williams; Topsy Ojo; Chris Noakes; Darren Allinson; Tom Court; Gerard Ellis; Halani Aulika; Eoin Sheriff; Matt Symons (C); Rob McCusker; Joe Trayfoot; Tom Guest
Replacements: Tom Cruse; Tom Smallbone; Leo Halavatau; David Sisi; Luke Narraway; Connor Murphy; Theo Brophy Clews; Dom Waldouck.
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