LONDON Irish produced a supreme display to score nine tries in a 60-14 Greene King IPA Championship demolition of Nottingham at Madejski Stadium this afternoon, writes Richard Ashton.
Table-topping Exiles made it 14 consecutive league wins – 15 if you include the London Welsh success since struck from the record books – with a performance bristling with power.
The hosts took an early lead after winning a penalty at the scrum, James Marshall hammering the ball through the uprights to put his side 3-0 in front after six minutes.
The fly half then produced a moment of magic to fashion the opening try for his side, a deft grubber kick collected by Aseli Tikoirotuma to go over in the corner.
A second score followed shortly after after Nottingham shot themselves in the foot by kicking the restart out on the full. Irish won another penalty at the scrum and Greig Tonks nudged a superb kick into the corner, with the hosts’ driving maul powering over the line for Harry Elrington to dot down.
Exiles continued to dominate the first half although they had to wait for their third score to come shortly before the break. After battering away at the Nottingham line, two-time World Cup-winner Ben Franks picked the ball up just short of the line before burrowing over. Marshall’s first successful conversion made it 20-0.
A similar score resulted in Nick Kennedy’s men securing the bonus point before half time, Scott Steele this time the beneficiary as he sniped over before Marshall converted to put the hosts 27-0 up at the break.
Nottingham started the second half with a flourish as they scored a fabulous try through scrum half Murray McDonnell. Wing Calum Hall cut a beautiful line before off-loading inside to his teammate who went over under the posts. Lawrence Rayner added the conversion.
That was as good as it got for the visitors, though, with Irish turning on the style as they hit back immediately. An overthrown Nottingham line-out inside their own 22 gifted the ball to Exiles, and after they spun the ball right and then left, man-of-the-match Johnny Williams crashed over in the left-hand corner. Marshall nailed a superb conversion to extend the advantage to 34-7.
Substitute Joe Trayfoot earned a birthday bonus as he scored Irish’s sixth at the back of another rolling maul, and after Nottingham had prop Kieran Davies sin-binned for continual infringing at the set piece, Ofisa Treviranus collected another score for the hosts in farcical circumstances. With Exiles on their opponents’ line, Steele’s pass was knocked back by a retreating Nottingham player to go behind the try line, with Samoan No. 8 Treviranus pouncing to score. Marshall added the extras to make it 48-7.
The home side continued to showcase their power and replacement hooker scored their third try from the driving maul, while the backs continued to display slick hands and Topsy Ojo bagged their ninth try in the right hand corner after Fergus Mulchrone unselfishly passed to the club’s all-time top tryscorer with the line at his mercy.
Nottingham continued to battle and grabbed a late consolation when Darryl Veenendaal crossed late on, Gearoid Lyons conversion the final play of a game in which Irish clicked into gear.
London have a two-week break before welcoming play-off chasing London Scottish to Madejski Stadium on Saturday, February 25.
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