NORTHAMPTON SAINTS CAME to the Brentford Community Stadium to take on Declan Kidney's London Irish side on a day where Irish culture and free flowing rugby was on show.
The away side won 42-22 in the southwest London sunshine, gave themselves a huge boost in the play-off race, while denting London Irish's
The away side came to Brentford to face a jubilant Irish side, who were having their first St. Patricks Party at the BCS since moving from Reading
The tune of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline rang out around the ground ahead of the game and a real Celtic atmosphere could be felt on the day.
An opening try from London Irish's Ollie Hassell-Collins and two late Nick Phipps tries weren't enough to stop Northampton winning at a canter.
Northampton's Rory Hutchinson and Tom Collins scored the opening tries for Northampton in the first half and in the second Fraser Dingwall Alex Mitchell, a penalty try, and Tom Collin's second try capped off a dominant performance for the away side.
London Irish are out for their game against Northampton Saints.
The St Patrick's Party is about to begin. #exilenation 🍀 pic.twitter.com/akelkXT3OV— The Irish Post (@theirishpost) March 26, 2022
First half
The game got off to a frantic start when a brilliant move down the London Irish right hand side was finished by Ollie Hassell-Collins. The noise was electric
Sean O' Brien found Collins to race home and convert the opening score of the day 6 minutes into the contest.
Forner Ulster out-half Paddy Jackson missed the conversion to keep the score at 5-0.
The Exiles had a chance to increase the lead further when Jackson converted a penalty from an error from the scrum to make it 8-0
Northampton had the lion's share of the territory in the opening 20 minutes and had Tom Collins touch down in the corner on 22 minutes after lovely work from Hutchinson who fired a lovely long pass out to his teammate.
Wale's Dan Biggar converted the conversion to make it 8-7 in the sunshine.
They say confidence is everything in sport and within two minutes of the first try Northampton had another when the other center Rory Hutchinson bundled over to make it 12-8.
Biggar did his thing again to make it 14-8 to the away side
The Exiles were guilty of a number of handling errors as the half wore on and struggled to retain a stranglehold or grasp on the game
London Irish's half got worse when lock Rob Simmons was sin-binned by Wayne Barnes for a head collision with Hutchinson at a breakdown,and with that the sides went to the dressing rooms with much to think about.
37 | Yellow card for Rob Simmons.
👉 8-14 #LIRvNOR— London Irish (@londonirish) March 26, 2022
Second half
Northampton threatened the Irish defense early on with a couple line breaks from Courtnall Skosan and Ratuniyarawa, but things would go from bad to worse when Nick Phipps was sent to the stands by Barnes for illegally stopping a try.
The rolling maul from the lineout resulted in a penalty try to Northamapton making it 21-8.
Phipps was touted to have illegally ripped the ball from Sam Matavesi's grasp,
The Exiles would concede another try soon after good work down the wing from Skosan found Alex Mitchell in acres of space to tab down to make it 26-8
Biggar made it 28-8
London Irish were shook and suddenly struggling to contain a rampant Saints team on a day that promised so much
A third try in the opening 15 minutes for the away side from center Fraser Dingwall between the posts put real breathing space between the sides.
BRENTFORD, ENGLAND - MARCH 26: Fraser Dingwall of Northampton Saints makes a break to score his sides fifth try during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between London Irish and Northampton Saints at Brentford Community Stadium on March 26, 2022 in Brentford, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)London Irish battled hard but were outclassed by the Saints and would soon concede a sixth try when Tom Collins retrieved his own ball to touch down for his second try of the day. The score was 42-8 with 17 minutes left.
London Irish got their second try of the game late on when Nick Phipps finished off a move.
Northampton's fullback George Furbank was sin binned late on for a deliberate knock and soon after London Irish got their third try and Phipps second of the game when he crashed over to make it 20-42
The conversion reduced it to 20 and thus ended the game 42-22.
The game's carnival and celebratory atmosphere never went away despite the drubbing and on a day that sought to celebrate all the good things about Irish culture and what London Irish means to the wider community, the day was rip roaring success in that aspect.
| London Irish: (8) 22 |
| Tries: Hassell-Collins, Phipps 2 Cons: Jackson 2 Pens: Jackson |
| Northampton: (14) 42 |
| Tries: Collins 2, Hutchinson, Penalty try, Mitchell, Dingwall Cons: Biggar 5 |
Northampton Saints:
15 George Furbank, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Alex Mitchell, 1 Alex Waller, 2 Sam Matavesi, 3 Paul Hill, 4 David Ribbans, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Lewis Ludlam (c), 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Alex Coles, 21 Tom James, 22 Tom Litchfield, 23 Tommy Freeman
London Irish team
15 James Stokes, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (captain), 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 Seán O’Brien.
Substitutes: 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Luke Green, 19 George Nott, 20 Tom Pearson, 21 Olly Cracknell, 22 Ben White, 23 Tom Parton
