It looks like being a long season back in the Guinness Premiership for Leeds. After drawing with Newcastle and losing to Worcester, sides who regularly flirt with relegation themselves, Leeds suffered a seven-try drubbing yesterday from the first of the big boys to visit.
For London Irish, 11 tries in two weeks have underscored their title credentials. By the time their 22-year-old wing, Adam Thompstone, had completed a 24-minute second-half hat-trick, Leeds's record of going more than a year undefeated at home had long gone and much of their support was drifting away from the ground. There were 23 minutes left to play.
As Leeds's director of rugby, Andy Key, admitted, some harsh lessons have come with stepping up into in the Premiership. "What you get away with in Division One and what you get away with here is something different and we're going to have to learn that," he said.
London Irish were among the Premiership clubs who had something of a whip round before the start of the season to promise Leeds the equivalent of a £1m bonus if they stay up. But that is as far as their friendship goes. Within 40 seconds, Steffon Armitage and Peter Hewat had won Irish a kickable penalty. Ryan Lamb pulled it. Within three minutes, Armitage and Nick Kennedy had put Sailosi Tagicakibau clear, only to see the ball roll free as the Samoan crossed the line. And that was when Leeds's luck ran out. After six minutes, Rob Debney got tired of their front row popping up at the scrum and awarded a penalty try, which Lamb converted, as he did a penalty in the ninth minute which put Irish 10 points up with Leeds hardly getting a sniff of the ball.
The Exiles' lead had gone out to 13 points before the home side mounted any kind of attack, kicking a penalty into the corner only to see the move end when the barn door that is Chris Hala'Ufia slammed in their faces. It all seemed too easy for Irish and a third Lamb penalty took the score to 16-0 Irish momentarily got slapdash themselves.
Hewat, pushing adventure a touch too far, threw a flat pass which found Kearan Myall rather than any one of three Samoans it could have been intended for, and so committed were the Irish that the Leeds flanker went 60 metres to the posts unhindered. Ceiron Thomas added the conversion, cutting the lead to nine, but it turned out to be a false dawn.
Leeds ran into Hala'ufia again, but this time the 17st Tongan used the loose ball himself, dotting down close enough to the posts to make Lamb's job easy and the half-time score was 23-7, although by then Kennedy was in the sin-bin after Andy Gomarsall had been flattened by what appeared to be a perfect left hook.
It did not seem to matter when the seven forwards, plus Lamb playing at flanker, heaved the Leeds pack backwards at the first scrum of the second half and by the time Kennedy was preparing to return Irish had scored a second soft try, Tagickibau intercepting to put Thompstone in for his first, and Hala'ufia was about to use his considerable strength to claim the bonus point try and to put the game well beyond Leeds at 35-7.
London Irish emptied their replacements bench and when Thompstone sliced through some dire defending Leeds fans began the drift away home, missing the hat-trick try set up by yet another intercept and Tagickibau's cruise into the left corner
With Northampton and Gloucester next up Leeds need all the help they can get, although there is the prospect of their last-minute close-season signing, the Fiji centre Seru Rabeni, being fit for next weekend.
Leeds Goodridge; Welding (Blackett 53), Burrell, H Paul, Armstrong; Thomas, Gomarsall (Mathie 60); Hardy, Ma'asi, Gomez (McGee 50), Lund, Pendlebury (capt), Myall (D Paul 63), Fourie, To'oala (Nilsen 68).
Try Myall. Con Thomas.
London Irish Hewat; Thompstone, Seveali'i (Richards 53), Mapusua (Malone 69), Tagicakibau; Lamb, Hodgson; Murphy (Dermody 62), Buckland (Paice 53), Rautenbach (Ion 49), Kennedy, Casey (capt; Perry 53), Danaher, S Armitage, Hala'Ufia.
Tries Penalty, Hala'Ufia 2, Thompstone 3, Tagicakibau. Cons Lamb 6. Pens Lamb 3.
Sin-bin Kennedy 39, Hala'Ufia 68.
Referee R Debney (Leicestershire). Attendance 6,047.
