At the outset of this season's Heineken Cup few, if any, punters would have had London Irish down to have 10 points after two rounds of pool matches. A bonus-point victory over Benetton Treviso was predictable enough but another five-point haul at the Dragons was less so after the Welsh side's encouraging opening performance in Perpignan.
There was no pre-match evidence to suggest the Dragons were going to be so fragile and ponderous in front of their home fans and leak six tries in such an alarming manner. In fact the Dragons were in so much disarray that it would be unwise to assess the Exiles' quarter-final credentials until after their double header with Perpignan, beginning with the home fixture on December 9.
The Irish cause was boosted by some significant contributions, not least from the half-backs. Peter Richards was his usual busy self and Mike Catt's decision-making was always spot-on. In Nick Kennedy Irish have an excellent lock who scored the bonus-point try and earned the man-of-the-match award. And then there were the two try-scorers, Delon Armitage and the wing Tomas De Vedia, who both caused such havoc that the bonus point arrived in the space of 18 first-half minutes. What a way to register a first ever away win in the Heineken Cup.
"You are never in control of any Heineken Cup group but this puts us in a good position," said Catt. "To get five points away from home in the Heineken Cup is unbelievable. Not many sides are going to do that and it does take the weight off our shoulders a little bit but we are only two games into the competition."
The way Richards used free-kicks, from a scrum and a lineout, to move the ball wide benefited De Vedia, who went over for his two scores in five minutes - the second after Kevin Morgan, on his return from injury, failed to deal with Delon Armitage's chip ahead. It was 24-0 after 19 minutes and 31-3 before the half-hour.
"We fell asleep on two free-kicks and we had a 20-minute spell of rugby I don't think I have ever experienced before," reflected the Dragons coach, Paul Turner. "We had talked about putting pressure on Richards and Catt but we didn't put a hand on them. We have had our backsides smacked. We'll take the bullets that are coming at us and we will move on."
Newport Gwent Dragons Morgan; Wyatt (Emerick, 57), Gomer-Davies, Smith, Mustoe; Sweeney (Thomas, 69), Evans (Williams, 59); Black (Gustafson, 69), Jones (Daly, 70), Thomas, Charteris, Owen (Hall, 75), Ringer, Parks (Bearman, 59), Charvis (capt). Tries Owen, Jones. Cons Sweeney 2. Pen Sweeney.
London Irish Hewat (Ojo, 80); De Vedia, D Armitage, Mapusua, Tagicakibau; Catt (Hodgson, 55), Richards (S Armitage, 69); Murphy, Paice (Coetzee, 69), Lea'aetoa (Skuse, 49), Kennedy (Hudson, 79), Casey (capt), Roche, Danaher, Leguizamón (Thorpe, 65).
Tries De Vedia 2, Catt, D Armitage 2, Kennedy. Cons Hewat 6. Pen Hewat.
Referee C Berdos (France). Attendance 6,132.
