London Irish’s bright young things dazzled in front of the watching Steve Borthwick to seal a well-deserved victory and condemn top-of-the-table Saracens to a first Premiership defeat of the season. Chandler Cunningham-South sealed the win with a late try, teed up by the stand-out performer of the night in Tom Pearson, while it was Ollie Hassell-Collins who got the ball rolling for the Exiles. Borthwick will have left with food for thought as a result.
Saracens, for their part, were out of kilter. They were frustrated by London Irish’s defence and took it out on the referee Matthew Carley too often. Both sides were shown red cards for high tackles in the first half – Adam Coleman for Irish, Ben Earl for Saracens – but for the best part of 10 minutes in the second, the Exiles were down to 12 men after two more yellows. Saracens rarely looked like scoring in that period – too frenetic in the face of Irish’s resilience – and accordingly, lost their nine-match winning run in the competition.
Take nothing away from Irish, however. Pearson was immense, particularly in that period when Saracens had a two-man advantage. He was on the fringes of Eddie Jones’s squad but on this evidence could well be one of the beneficiaries under the new regime. Borthwick, meanwhile, needs no introduction to Hassell-Collins, having sought to sign him for Leicester, but the London Irish winger would have caught the England head coach’s eye throughout, right from the second minute when he scored the opening try, blasting through Owen Farrell to dot down.
Will Joseph also impressed in the opening exchanges, with Irish causing problems with ball in hand and Saracens ill-disciplined and bad tempered. Joseph was forced off with a foot injury, however, and after Farrell had Saracens on the board with a penalty, Coleman soon followed him. It was a rank tackle, high, forceful and straight to Tom Woolstencroft’s face. The Australian lock was remorseful but he was sent off twice last season – both times against Saracens – and something is going to have to change for the London Irish captain.
Tries from Mateo Carreras (pictured) and Sam Stuart allowed Newcastle to complete a remarkable comeback as they saw off high-flying Sale with a 20-14 Premiership victory at Kingston Park.
The Falcons looked devoid of ideas in the first half as the Sharks deservedly went into the interval 14-0 up. However, a fantastic second-half performance, with Brett Connon kicking 10 points, saw Newcastle turn the result on its head.
Sale were rewarded for their positive start after 11 minutes. A lineout was worked down the blindside and Ewan Ashman was able to go in at the corner. Rob Du Preez was on target from the touchline for the conversion.
Micky Young was sent to the sin-bin after 24 minutes for tackling a player on the floor as Newcastle were penalised once more on halfway.
Du Preez went to the corner with the penalty and the lineout was spread wide for Tom O’Flaherty to go over to extend the lead before Du Preez once more added the extras.
The Falcons got on the board two minutes into the second half when Connon kicked a penalty inside the 22 to reduce the arrears. But Carreras provided a spark for the Falcons and the Argentina international managed to burst through two would-be tackles to dot down to give the home side some momentum in the game, on a move where Sale seemed to be well-placed in defence.
The hosts moved ahead after 63 minutes as replacement Stuart was credited with a try after a rolling maul went over and Connon was spot on to add the conversion and give the Falcons a three-point lead.
The Sharks, who had been disciplined in the first half, started to lose their cool as some poor decision making cost them. Daniel Du Preez was penalised for clearing out beyond the ruck and then dissent saw what would have been a regulation penalty become a formality for Connon, who was successful in front of the posts.
Sale kept battling but one late chance went astray with a loose pass in midfield as the home side ran out deserved winners. PA Media
His teammates kept their heads, however, not to mention their shape and their willingness to offload when in possession of the ball. Saracens, meanwhile, could not get on the right side of Carley – so much so that he had to give Farrell a stern talking-to for back-chat, and Paddy Jackson added three more penalties. The third came after Earl’s sending-off – not nearly as bad a tackle as Coleman’s at first glance but worthy of a red because there was no wrapping of the arms.
Saracens did register what felt at the time like a pivotal try just before the interval – Kapeli Pifeleti, on for Woolstencroft who went off on a stretcher after a lengthy stoppage – barrelling over from close range. His celebrations were a touch over the top, prompting Carley to award Irish a penalty on halfway, one Jackson duly knocked over for a 19-10 lead at the break.
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Saracens began the second half purposefully and Sean Maitland scored their second try after Lucio Cinti failed to deal with Elliot Daly’s grubber but another Jackson penalty kept the visitors at arm’s length.
Rory Jennings and Rob Simmons were then shown yellow cards for a high tackle and a maul infringement respectively but Irish did well to weather that period before a Farrell penalty with seven minutes to go set up a tense finish. The last word belonged to the hosts, however, with a try from the England Under-20s back-rower Cunningham-South, after a lung-busting run and a fine offload from Pearson, sealing a memorable victory for the Exiles.
