This might have been a bottom-of-the-table clash but increasingly things are looking up for London Irish. It must be qualified in the sense that Bristol, not for the first time this season, were desperately disappointing, but for the second home match in a row Declan Kidney’s side produced the kind of matured performance that suggests they can look up the league table with optimism.
Irish’s two two stand-out performers were also their try-scorers – Benhard Janse van Rensburg and the livewire Ben White – but they were ably assisted by Tom Pearson and Rory Jennings, who was a late replacement for Paddy Jackson at fly-half. Given Jackson had started the previous 57 Premiership matches for Irish they’d have been forgiven for taking a while to adjust but Jennings turned in a composed performance, guiding the Exiles to a victory which gets the gut-wrenching defeat by Gloucester last week out of the system.
Bristol, meanwhile, were rank average. They scrapped their way to victory at Harlequins just after Christmas but in similarly bad conditions they found repeating the trick in west London too tall an order in no small part to 19 penalties conceded which left them feeding off scraps, according to their director of rugby Pat Lam. They find themselves bottom of the table and longing for the firmer pitches that spring will bring but the suspicion remains that a club with such lavish resources have been languishing for far too long now.
“We were on the end of a 19-7 penalty count, with territory and possession 40%, so we couldn’t get our game going,” said Lam. “You don’t really want to be chasing the game in those conditions. There’s frustration in the dressing room, and guys have to take responsibility for this, because [our discipline] is killing us.”
Irish’s home form is impressive to the extent that they have lost just once here since April and they began with the intent to ensure that run continued. Bristol might have been welcoming back both Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler but Irish had the best of the gain-line in the opening exchanges and Jennings kicked them into an early 3-0 lead after a strong carry from Van Rensburg.
In a rare foray into the Irish 22, Bristol struck with the opening try midday through the first half after the Bears kept the ball alive for a number of phases. Semi Radradra was prominent in the buildup before Joe Batley punctured the hosts’ defensive line and Harry Thacker spotted a gap, picked and darted through it.
White was menace throughout, however, and he had a hand in both of Irish’s first-half tries. He was determined to keep the tempo high and while he couldn’t quite get to the line with a quickly-taken penalty, it had Bristol scrambling. After some excellent handling in dreadful conditions, Ben Loader put Van Rensburg over in the right-hand corner. Jennings nailed an excellent conversion from the touchline.
Irish were on top at the breakdown and with Bristol’s discipline wavering, the Exiles extended their half-time lead out to 10 points. Twice they kicked penalties to the corner but were unable to capitalise but Bristol gave them one more attempt and White sniped his way over after Rob Simmons had dragged his side close. Another tricky conversion from Jennings and a penalty early in the second half put the hosts in command.
Bristol’s cause was not helped when Gabriel Ibitoye, who has been in fine fettle of late, hobbled off before the full-back Noah Heward followed him soon after. The visitors remained on top at the scrum – Genge and Sinckler saw to that – but Bristol could not take advantage of their set-piece ascendancy with indiscipline again their downfall before another Jennings penalty ended any hopes of a comeback by the visitors. It rarely looked like coming given their torpor in the face of resolute Irish defence. Indeed, if the Exiles were the league’s great entertainers last season, Kidney has added a dose of pragmatism to good effect. “We played our game but we played it smartly, we played smart rugby today,” said Kidney. “If we get the balance between that right, who is to say where we can go.”
