Champs in shock first round loss
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:21
Points machine: London Irish fullback Peter Hewat
Defending champions Wasps were upstaged by their London rivals, with the Irish securing a 26-14 victory in the opening match of the 2008/09 Guinness Premiership season in the first match of the Twickenham double header on Saturday.
It was an error-strewn display by the defending champions at a wet Twickenham.
Wasps were kept scoreless for threequarters of the match, as the Exiles ran up a 20-0 lead, before a 59th-minute try by flank Tom Rees broke their duck.
However, earlier scores by Chris Hala'ufia and Richard Thorpe, along with 16 points from the boot of Australian Peter Hewat, ended the game as a contest.
A late score by Eoin Reddan was scant consolation for the defending champions, who could not even get a bonus point out the opening round.
Irish were left reeling after finishing seventh last season, a position which meant they missed out on qualification for the Heineken Cup, but their rout at Twickenham was an impressive declaration of intent.
Ian McGeechan's side are traditionally slow starters - last season they left their revival later than ever - and they were off the pace and shapeless in attack.
London Irish took a 13-0 half-time lead through an early score by new signing Hala'Ufia.
Hewat converted and added two penalties to put the Exiles in a commanding position at the break.
The champions' frailties at the line-out were exposed by that early Hala'ufia score and again in the second half by Thorpe, who crossed for Irish after capitalising on errors at the set-piece.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Hala'ufia, Thorpe
Cons: Hewat 2
Pens: Hewat 4
For London Wasps:
Tries: Rees, Reddan
Cons: Van Gisbergen, Staunton
Yellow card: Chris Hala'ufia (London Irish, 16)
The teams:
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Delon Armitage, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Mike Catt (captain), 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Gary Johnson, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 David Paice, 18 James Buckland, 19 Jon Fisher, 20 Adam Thompstone, 21 Peter Richards, 22 Eoghan Hickey.
London Wasps: 15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Dominic Waldouck, 12 Josh Lewsey, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Riki Flutey, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 James Haskell, 7 Tom Rees, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Richard Birkett, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Pat Barnard, 2 Raphaël Ibañez (captain), 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Phil Vickery, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 John Hart, 20 Joe Simpson, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Lachlan Mitchell.
Referee: Andrew Small
