It has been a difficult week for London Irish and at times this victory was equally trying but a promising season ends on a triumphant note. The future is undoubtedly bright for the Exiles on the pitch if it can be secured off it. It remains a huge if, though their director of rugby, Declan Kidney, expressed confidence it will be. But a best league finish for 14 years is some platform upon which to build if the impending takeover by a US consortium is completed.
Kidney was as animated as he gets after a scrappy, error-strewn victory. The uncertainty, the late wages, the empty promises, the question marks over insurance cover all added up to one of the most challenging periods in his coaching career.
That his players showed commendable resilience to finish the week victorious is to their credit. The squad, not to mention the staff at the club, do not deserve to be treated the way that they have been. That they pulled together to eke out this victory is commendable.
“I’m delighted for everybody in the organisation, we said we would control what we can control and that’s what we did today,” said Kidney. “There’s a rich future for this club on the pitch and I’m sure the people off the pitch will do the business, they just need a bit of time to see it through.
“You see the measure of people in adversity. Our leadership have been magnificent, it never interfered with training or team meetings. The players have been brilliant, but so have coaches and the off-field team because it affected everybody.”
Irish were roared on by a crowd of more than 11,000 and though it was not the finest performance - nowhere near - this win demonstrated that they have added some steel to their style this season. They were languishing at the foot of the table around Christmas but have surged upwards since.
The worry is that the takeover is dragging on and though Mick Crossan’s intervention has bought the club time to complete the takeover, payday in May will roll around soon enough. “What happened was really unfortunate, all those off-field things they are outside our control,” said Kidney. “We’d entrust in [the owners and prospective buyers] to be able to manage something between them to get it right. It’s outside our remit but if you see that out there today, I imagine there would be a queue of people [interested].”
Juan Martín González was announced as the man of the match, having scored two tries, but in truth it was the introduction of Tom Pearson early in the second half that made all the difference. The 23-year-old back-rower has enjoyed a fine season and emerged from the bench to score one try and set up another for González. He can consider himself mightily unlucky if he does not feature in England’s World Cup training camps in the coming months.
Truth be told it was a dog’s dinner of a match and one that Exeter really ought to have won. They were dominant in the first half but handling let them down on more than one occasion. In the second half, Jack Dunne and Tom Wyatt both made promising breaks that came to nothing while one overthrown lineout when deep in Irish territory summed up their afternoon. Ultimately those missed chances were to prove costly with Irish able to find an extra gear in the final 10 minutes.
Irish were not at the races for much of the first half. Exeter fielded a much-changed team with an eye on next season - indeed Jacques Vermeulen was the only one of their leavers to be handed a starting place by Rob Baxter. It was he who opened the scoring, finishing off a move started by Stu Townsend with Ollie Devoto providing the final pass.
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It was not until the 25th minute that Irish got going, driving a maul all of 20 metres with the hooker Agustín Creevy at the heart of it. They were awarded a penalty, kicked it to the corner and from close range González powered over.
Exeter rallied, however, and finished the half the stronger - Irish relieved to get into half-time on level terms. Pearson’s introduction gave Irish a boost and it was he who finished off at the back of a maul to put the hosts ahead. Exeter wrestled back the lead when Wyatt pounced on a loose ball and fed Tom Hendrickson to scamper clear but Irish had the final say through González down the right.
