Irish seal semi-final place in British & Irish Cup with victory over Yorkshire

London Irish beat Yorkshire Carnegie for a second time in a week with plenty of younger squad members on show for both sides. The 34-14 win sees Irish progress into the semi-final of the B&I Cup where they will play Jersey Reds at the Madjeski on Sunday 2^nd April.

London Irish progress to the semi-final where they will
host Jersey Reds in three weeks time.

London Irish were the victors last week at Headingley for the top of the table clash as they eked out a 20-14 win to see them remain unbeaten in the Championship. However, this weekend attention turned to the British & Irish Cup quarter-finals as both sides rung the changes from the previous week, with almost entirely different starting 15s. Both sides continued to use the competition as an opportunity to give much needed game time and experience to young members of their squads and academy.

                The opening half at the Madjeski was a nervy affair with the majority of play being outside the red zone of either side. London Irish established early dominance in the set-piece, causing real problems for the Yorkshire lineout, and ascendancy in the scrummage. With the first points of the game coming from a scrum penalty to Irish with Atkins slotting the kick to give Irish the early lead. Irish set-piece prowess also resulted in the first try of the game, as a strong driving maul from the lineout was defended well initially by Yorkshire, before captain Luke Narraway burrowed over to finish the move.

                With Irish leading 10-0, and beginning to take control, it was their failure to control the breakdown area that allowed Yorkshire opportunities to counter attack. However, it was a returned kick from Irish that gave Yorkshire a score from nowhere. With the Irish defence missing tackles it gave a simple two-on-one which was finished well by flanker Josh Bainbridge. The half finished with neither side able to capitalise on their chances, but Irish added a further penalty giving them a 13-7 lead at the half.

                Yorkshire started the second period well, and kept Irish pinned back deep inside their own half for large parts of the opening 10 minutes, but they were unable to turn this pressure into points with Irish disciplined in their exit strategy. The half was sparked into life with a quick tap penalty taken by Ben Ransom which caught the Yorkshire defence off-guard. With defenders struggling to work back Ross Neal made the most of the opportunity stepping past would-be tacklers to run in for a score.

                Irish, now with momentum on their side, continued to apply pressure to the Yorkshire defence. With a penalty kicked to the corner, Irish looked to increase their lead and did so immediately, as Gilsenan’s powerful carry was stopped just short which gave Jebb Sinclair an opportunity to bundle over the line and score on his return from long-term injury.  London Irish sealed the victory with 10 minutes to go as a long floated pass out wide from 19 year old fly-half Atkins finds Ross Neal, who again caused problems for Yorkshire defenders before sending Topsy Ojo in for one of his simplest tries.

                While Irish had the game wrapped up, Yorkshire continued to work hard and were rewarded on the scoreboard for their efforts at the breakdown. With flanker Lewis Wilson breaking through the middle of a ruck and hacking the ball through as Stevie McColl used his pace to beat the Irish defence and fall on the ball over the try line. Yorkshire continued to press in the dying moments being forced to attack from deep, but handling errors left the ball squirting along the ground where impressive winger Matt Williams collected and scored in the corner on the week of his 19^th birthday.

                The final score gave Irish a 37-14 victory over Carnegie, and ensured they progress to the semi-final stages of the British & Irish Cup. They will be pleased to have turned their second half dominance into points in such a clinical fashion with a very strong set-piece lead by Will Lloyd & Connor Gilsenan. There was also much to be excited about in the Irish backline as young players impressed, notably Jacob Atkins, Ross Neal & Matt Williams all put in impressive performances. Yorkshire will be proud of their work at the breakdown as they caused problems for Irish throughout the game with Bainbridge & Smith getting through a huge workload. While their lineout and scrummage struggled, they had plenty of pace in the backline with McColl & Arscott continuing to threaten, but too often being starved of possession.

                Matters will turn back to the league next weekend for both sides. London Irish will host Cornish Pirates for their annual St Patricks Day Party in front of a large crowd on Saturday 18^th. Yorkshire have a crucial game at Castle Park as they seek to end their losing run, which has now extended to four loses, as they hope to re-establish their hold on a home semi-final spot against third place Doncaster.

Controlled England victorious to claim U20’s Six Nations title

England put in a dominant performance against a valiant Scotland side to earn a 33-5 victory at Franklin’s Gardens. England controlled large portions of the game and pulled away in the second half in a victory that saw them crowned Six Nations champions.

U20 Six Nations Champions, England, line-up
for the pre-match anthems

    While Scotland had the bulk of the early possession, neither side were able to capitalise on their opportunities as the set piece failed to fire early on. It was a mistake from a Scottish lineout that lead to the first points of the game as Langdon pounced on an overthrown ball before Ben Curry made yards up the field.  With the Scottish defence out of position a strong carry from flanker Jack Nay saw him over for the opening try.

                England controlled the rest of the half keeping Scotland pinned back inside their own half, and while having several opportunities to attack, the Scottish defence held England out despite periods of sustained pressure. Scotland failed to gain a foothold in the match as the England scrum dominance allowed them to control the tempo. It was some neat handling just before half-time that saw England double their lead, Zach Mercer and Harry Randall linking up to allow the scrum half over in the corner. England leading at half-time 14-0.

                England started the second half as they finished the first. With Scotland deep inside their own half and attacking from deep, a miskicked chip was collected easily by Will Butler. England used their width well and Tom Parton put Dominic Morris in for a try early in the second half. However, Scotland hit back immediately with a great individual score from winger Darcy Graham as he showed his pace to break in behind England and then a strong carry to see him finish off the score. With the score at 19-5, Scotland began to work themselves back into the game for a short period but failed to add to the scoreboard.

England soon regained control of the game with further dominance up front failing to allow Scotland any clean ball from the set piece. The Scottish players continued to defend at a very high intensity and did not allow England to threaten the try line. However a handling error from Scotland saw a ball on the ground hacked through by England lock Josh Caulfield, and a fumble from the last Scottish defender allowed Zach Mercer  to cap off an impressive performance with a simple try. England finished the game in style as their dangerous backline connected with neat offloading between Cokanasiga & Mercer gave replacement fly-half Theo Brophy Clews a 30m footrace to the whitewash, scoring in the corner.

The final score was a convincing 33-5 victory for England who controlled the vast majority of the game, with huge credit going to the forward pack which caused problems for Scotland’s scrummage and never allowed them to build momentum. Despite early problems at the lineout, hooker Langdon was very impressive in the loose and put in a huge amount of work. The backrow also were impressive in their handling skills and effort going forward, lead by captain Zach Mercer. The win means England remain undefeated in this seasons Six Nations and will travel to Dublin next week hoping to seal a Grand Slam when they play Ireland. However, it was England & Wales’ victories on the night that saw England crowned winners of this seasons U20 Six Nations Championship.

Axing the play-offs must only be the beginning of resuscitating the English second tier

This week the RFU scrapped the Championship play-off system that had proven the stumbling block for Bristol’s promotion back to the Aviva Premiership for a number of years. While this seemed like a sensible and long overdue decision, it does not necessarily address the plethora of concerns that continue to haunt English rugby’s second tier. With the recent and painful demise of London Welsh, there is still some way to go to provide a stable platform for teams not quite ready to face the likes of Saracens & Wasps.

While scrapping the dreaded play-offs is certainly a good thing, it fails to address the real issues in the Championship. While it will allow the team at the top to better prepare for promotion, allowing time for a proper recruitment strategy, it only really serves the interest of those at the very top of the Championship or bottom of the Premiership, namely Bristol, Yorkshire & London Irish. From 2018 the club at the top of the table will have sufficient time to ready themselves for the top flight, time that Bristol & London Welsh more recently found lacking.

                The RFU also announced a funding boost for all Championship sides, which will come as hugely welcome news in a division where financial strife is felt from top to bottom. However, even this may not be enough to rescue the division from its current state of limbo. The Championship needs re-thinking and re-working. There is such variety in the division it appears impossible for it to succeed in its current format.

This term London Irish at top and are clearly a professional outfit seeking immediate return to the Premiership. Cornish Pirates continue to push for playoff places, having made the final twice in the last six years, yet don’t have a ground that means the minimum standard criteria for the top flight. There are teams such as Bedford, who openly admit to not be seeking promotion, and this year semi-professional outfit Richmond are at the bottom of the table. The Championship is not a suitable proving ground for such diversity.

Ring-fencing, while looking like the simplest option, is in the long run likely to create a stagnant pool at the bottom to the Premiership. As we see with most top divisions in all sports across the northern hemisphere, promotion and relegation is part and parcel of the drama and passion. Therefore, we must create a competitive and suitably funded second tier. This would mean shedding teams for the current Championship to create a smaller group of teams with a desire to play Premiership rugby long term.

This smaller group of teams would mean the funding that the RFU currently give to the Championship would go further in supporting their costs, and allowing them more ambition in recruitment and facilities. In turn it would create more professional and competitive teams that are more likely to be able to compete when promoted to the Premiership. This would require commitment from those at the RFU to ensure that there is adequate funding, which is currently lacking to support all 12 sides in the division, and from the clubs involved to pursue a sustainable and competitive division.

The Championship does continue to provide exciting rugby, and vital experience for professional players. Loan agreements with Championship clubs have given players the opportunity to enhance their game at a decent level, with plenty of the current England squad having had Championship experience in their development. However, with low crowd numbers and a lack of direction, the Championship is in need of revamping. In its current format it is not a safe place to build a professional rugby club, you only need ask those at Old Deer Park about the perils of continuing on the same road, and it’s only a matter of time before others succumb to a similar fate.