London Irish’s run without a Premiership victory looked like stretching into a ninth month before a late penalty try ended another disappointing year on a high in a repeat scoreline of their last league success against Sale here back in April.
It was only Irish’s third Premiership victory over Northampton in 14 matches and, although Saints led for most of the game, they were clinging on to a bonus point when a team that had not held a league opponent to a single-figure victory this season found a resolve and motivation that had been long dormant.
“We wanted the win so much and it showed,” said the Scotland wing Sean Maitland, who scored the first try of the game after Irish’s centre Johnny Williams broke Michael Paterson’s tackle. “We did not panic when Northampton took the lead and we went down to 14 men. Massive credit must go to the forwards who played so well against a team known for its set pieces. It made up for not being able to celebrate Christmas.”
The victory not only secured the first win of the season for Irish but also their first points and took them off the foot of the table with Newcastle taking their place. “We have Newcastle and Worcester at home in the coming weeks and this victory will give us confidence,” Maitland said. “We targeted the Northampton game weeks ago and now we have to build on the success.”
Williams has been one of the few reasons to be cheerful for Irish this season after graduating from the club’s academy and making a try-scoring debut against Agen last month a few weeks after his 19th birthday. Capped by Wales, the land of his father, at under-16 level and for England Under-17s and Under-18s, while qualifying for Scotland through a grandparent, the 6ft 2in centre combines strength with subtlety.
“Johnny is one to watch,” said Maitland. “I am not going to blow smoke too early, but he is finding his feet every game and after scoring tries regularly his confidence should be sky high. He carries the ball well and it says everything about his progress that he came up against a pretty good 12 today in Luther Burrell and held his own.”
Burrell sums up Northampton this season in that the harder he tries the less seems to come off for him. The Saints, who had scored only one try in their previous three league matches and none in the European Champions Cup double-header with Racing Métro this month, were tepid in the first half until Ken Pisi finished it with a try in the corner and Kahn Fotuali’i galvanised them after the break.
The scrum-half’s try at the start of the final quarter gave them the lead for the first time and they should have held on after the London Irish wing Aseli Tikoirotuma was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle, but the Saints did not score in his absence and played for the last four minutes with 14 men when Jamie Gibson was shown a yellow card, conceding a penalty try after their seven-man scrum collapsed.
“Perhaps we should have added a back to make the numbers even, but our discipline was not good enough and we gave them too much field position,” said the Northampton director of rugby, Jim Mallinder. “Irish did the basics better than us. Our position in the league sums up our season – inconsistent – and we need to start stepping things up.”
London Irish Maitland; Lewington, Hearn, Williams, Tikoirotuma; Noakes (Geraghty, 60), McKibbin; Court (Smallbone, 78), Paice, Franks (Aulika, 63), Symons (capt), Lloyd (Sinclair, 57), Narraway (Trayfoot, 57), Cowan, Treviranus.
Tries Narraway, Maitland, penalty. Cons Noakes, Geraghty. Pens Noakes 2.
Sin-bin Tikoirotuma 64.
Northampton Foden; K Pisi, G Pisi, Burrell (Hanrahan, 57), North (Collins, 61); Myler, Fotuali’i (Dickson, 69); E Waller (A Waller, 57), Hartley (capt; Haywood, 60), Hill (Denman, 60), Paterson (Dickinson, 57), Day (Matfield, 65), Lawes, Gibson, Harrison.
Tries K Pisi, North, Fotuali’i. Con Myler. Pens Myler 2.
Sin-bin Gibson 76
Referee I Tempest. Attendance 9,842.
