London Irish take the sting out of London Wasps

London Irish extended their home winning streak to four matches at the Madejski Stadium when they beat London Wasps 30-19 in the Aviva Premiership.

Irish opened up an early 11-3 lead through Shane Geraghty’s try and two Tom Homer penalties before the visitors hit back via the boot of Stephen Jones and Christian Wade’s touchdown.

Homer reduced the advantage at half-time to 16-14, but Jones gave Wasps a five-point lead in the second period. However, Marland Yarde’s score and 11 more points from the Exiles’ full-back gained a vital victory.

Despite an improvement in their performances recently, the hosts were facing the Premiership’s in-form side who had won five matches in succession in the Premiership.

But that didn’t deter Brian Smith’s men and they dominated the opening exchanges with their forwards and half-backs controlling proceedings.

Homer duly opened the scoring after three minutes and added to his tally soon after as Irish took a 6-0 lead.

Although Jones responded for the visitors, it was the Reading-based outfit that crossed for the game’s first try.

They received a penalty in front of the posts but, instead of taking the kick, the ball was shifted wide to Geraghty who touched down.

However, Wasps started to apply the pressure and the Exiles began to concede penalties. Successive three-pointers by their fly-half reduced the deficit to 11-9 before Wade brilliantly finished off a well-worked try.

Homer took the score to 16-14 just before the interval, but Jones immediately cancelled it out in the second half after Chris Hala’ufia had been sin-binned.

But another from the boot of the hosts’ full-back kept them in contention and Yarde’s superb try regained Irish’s lead. And it was Homer who sealed the win two further penalties.

Final Score London Irish 30 London Wasps 19

Scorers

London Irish
Tries: Geraghty, Yarde
Con: Homer
Pens: Homer 6

London Wasps
Tries: Wade
Cons: SM Jones
Pens: SM Jones 4

Match Officials
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth (60th Premiership game)
Assistant Referees: Ian Tempest and Andrew Watson
TMO: David Grashoff.

Teams

London Irish

15. Tom Homer, 14. Topsy Ojo , 13. Guy Armitage, 12. Shane Geraghty , 11. Marland Yarde, 10. Ian Humphreys, 9. Pat Phibbs, 8. Chris Halaufia 7. Ofisa Treviranus, 6. Matt Garvey, 5. Bryn Evans (C) , 4. George Skivington,3. Halani Aulika ,2. Scott Lawson ,1. Max Lahiff,

Replacements: 16. Davy McGregor, 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa , 18.Leo Halavatau, 19. Kieran Low, 20. Jamie Gibson, 21. Jon Fisher, 22. Sailosi Tagicakibau , 23. Jack Moates

London Wasps

15. Hugo Southwell , 14. Christian Wade , 13. Elliot Daly , 12. Chris Bell , 11. Tom Varndell , 10. Stephen Jones , 9. Joe Simpson, 8. Sam Jones, 7. Jonathan Poff , 6. Ashley Johnson , 5. Marco Wentzel , 4. James Cannon , 3. Will Taylor , 2. T Rhys Thomas ,1. Zak Taulafo

Replacements:16. Tom Lindsay , 17. Simon McIntyre , 18. Lorenzo Romano , 19. Alex Rae , 20. Matt Everard , 21. Charlie Davies , 22. Nick Robinson , 23. Charlie Hayter