London Irish 2016/17 Championship Thread

[Ozzy3213]

First topic message reminder :

  Welcome to this seasons thread for talking about all things London Irish. 

Senior Squad (39)

Technical Director: Brendan Venter
Director of Rugby: Nick Kennedy
Assistant Coach: Clark Laidlaw
Forwards Coach: George Skivington
Defence Coach: Declan Danaher
Skills Coach: Paul Hodgson

Hooker: David Paice, Gerard Ellis, David Porecki, Jason Harris-Wright, Todd Gleave (dual registered with Rosslyn Park).
Prop: Tom Court, Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, Tom Smallbone, Ben Franks, Richard Palframan, Ollie Hoskins.
Second Row: Sebastien de Chaves, Jerry Sexton, Jebb Sinclair, George Robson, Will Lloyd.
Back Row: Blair Cowan, Ofisa Treviranus, Luke Narraway, Connor Gilsenen, Joe Trayfoot, Mike Coman, Max Northcote-Green, Senitiki Nayalo.
Scrum Half: Brendan McKibbin, Scott Steele, Darren Allinson (on loan to Bath).
Fly Half: Greig Tonks, Tommy Bell, Theo Brophy-Clews.
Centre: Johnny Williams, Fergus Mulchrone, Ciaran Hearn, Tom Fowlie
Back Three: Topsy Ojo, Alex Lewington, Aseli Tikoirotuama, James Marshall, Ben Ransom


Senior Academy Squad (12)

Hooker: Matt Kouris (dual registered with Esher)
Prop: Harry Elrington (dual registered with Rosslyn Park), Austin Hay (Academy Plus)
Back Row: Isaac Curtis-Harris (dual registered with Esher), Jack Cooke (Academy Plus)
Scrum Half: Conor Murphy, Rory Brand (dual registered with Rosslyn Park)
Fly Half: Tom Parton
Centre: Ross Neal, Matt Williams
Wing: Joe Cokanasiga, Jacob Atkins


Fixture List

Date	Time	Opponents	H/A	Venue	Competition	Result	Scorers
Sat 13th Aug	15:00	Harlequins	A	The Stoop	Friendly	W 28-12	T: Cowan, Neal, Nayolo, Atkins  C: Bell 3, Tonks.
Fri 19th Aug	19:30	Nottingham	H	Hazelwood	Friendly	W 43-14
Fri 26th Aug	19:30	Loughborough Students	H	Hazelwood	Friendly	W 46-21
Sat 3rd Sep	15:00	Doncaster Knights	H	MadStad	Championship	W 19-0	T: Fowlie, Tikoroituma  P: Bell 3.
Sat 10th Sep	15:00	Richmond	H	MadStad	Championship	W 36-12	T: Paice, Cowan 2, Ellis, McKibbin, Elrington. C: Bell 3.
Sat 17th Sep	15:00	Bedford Blues	A	Goldington Road	Championship	W 30-23	T: Franks, Williams, Ojo, Northcote-Green. C: Bell 2. P: Bell 2.
Sun 25th Sep	15:00	Ealing Trailfinders	H	MadStad	Championship	W 32-12	T: Ransom, Trayfoot, Marshall, Steele C:Bell, Marshall 2 P:Bell 2.
Fri 30th Sep	19:45	Nottingham	A	LadyBay Sports	Championship	W 29-7	T: Steele Tikoroituma Northcote-Green Mulchrone C:Bell 3 P:Bell.
Sat 8th Oct	15:00	London Welsh	H	MadStad	Championship	W 35-12	T: Mulchrone, Paice, de Chaves, McKibbin. C: Bell. 3 P: Bell 3.
Sat 15th Oct	15:00	Ospreys Prem Select	A	The Gnoll	B & I Cup	W 25-14	T: Neal, Ransom, Nayalo, Palframan.  C: Tonks.  P: Tonks.
Sat 22nd Oct	15:00	Connacht Eagles	H	MadStad	B & I Cup	W 34-3	T: Elrington, Hoskins, Harris-Wright, Parton, Cokanasiga.  C: Tonks 3 P: Tonks.
Sat 29th Oct	15:00	London Scottish	A	RAG	Championship	W 62-12	T: Paice, McKibbin, Cokanasiga, Bell 2, Tikoirotuma, Steele, Cowan C: Bell 8, P: Bell 2.
Sat 5th Nov	15:00	Yorkshire Carnegie	H	MadStad	Championship	W 41-17	T: Ransom 2, Tikoirotuma, Marshall 2. C: Bell 5. P: Bell 2.
Sat 19th Nov	13:00	Cornish Pirates	A	Mennaye Field	Championship	W 35-24	T: Ransom 2, Franks 2, Northcote-Green  C: Marshall 2.  P: Tonks 2.
Sun 27th Nov	15:00	Jersey Reds	H	MadStad	Championship	W 42-29	T: Ransom, Paice 2, Palframan, Fowlie  C: Bell 4  P: Bell 2  DG: Bell.
Sat 3rd Dec	14:00	Rotherham Titans	A	Clifton Lane	Championship	W 38-10	T: Cokanasiga 2, Bell 2, Steele.  C: Bell 5  P: Bell.
Sun 11th Dec	15:00	Cornish Pirates	H	MadStad	B & I Cup	W 33-24	T: Atkins, Gilsenan, Porecki, Nayalo, M.Williams.  C: Tonks 4.
Sat 17th Dec	14:30	Cornish Pirates	A	Mennaye Field	B & I Cup
Sat 24th Dec	15:00	Richmond	A	RAG	Championship
Sat 31st Dec	15:00	Bedford Blues	H	MadStad	Championship
13/14/15 Jan		Connacht Eagles	A		B & I Cup
Sat 21st Jan	15:00	Ospreys Prem Select	H	MadStad	B & I Cup
Sat 28th Jan	15:00	Ealing Trailfinders	A	Vallis Way	Championship
Sun 5th Feb	14:00	Nottingham	H	MadStad	Championship
Sat 18th Feb	14:00	London Welsh	A	Old Deer Park	Championship
Sat 25th Feb	15:00	London Scottish	H	MadStad	Championship
Sun 5th Mar	15:00	Yorkshire Carnegie	A	Headingley	Championship
Sat 18th Mar	14:00	Cornish Pirates	H	MadStad	Championship
Sat 25th Mar	14:00	Jersey Reds	A	St Peter	Championship
Sat 8th Apr	15:00	Rotherham Titans	H	MadStad	Championship
Sat 15th Apr	15:00	Doncaster Knights	A	Castle Park	Championship

Season Preview

Well it's been an interesting summer in the aftermath of relegation.  It was clear from the outset that we would lose some players and would have to cut our cloth accordingly.  Initially it appeared that Tom Coventry was staying, but a late u-turn from him meant a new coaching set up was required.  New coaches, loss of big names, new players to integrate, sounds like a recipe for disaster, and we've certainly been there many times over the past few years.  This however, does not feel like that at all.  Perhaps it's because we are a league down, but there is real optimism around, primarily because of those things.  The holy trinity of Nick Kennedy, Declan Danaher and Paul Hodgson have been promoted to the first team after overseeing a successful academy season last year, and have Brendan Venter overseeing them as technical director.  This is exciting.  A proven winner overseeing a young, hungry and exciting coaching team.  On the playing side, the main losses being Matt Symons and Sean Maitland are more than offset by the likes of George Robson, James Marshall and Tommy Bell coming in.  If anything it feels as if we may have a stronger squad this year than we've had for the past 4 or 5.

Two games into pre season and things look positive.  Comfortably beating an admittedly understrength Quins, and a high scoring win against Nottingham have given plenty of optimism for the season ahead.  There were still defensive lapses, which will need to be ironed out, but barring complacency or an absolute stinker in terms of form, we should have more than enough to comfortably make the dreaded play offs, where it then becomes a test of mental strength rather than ability.


Ozzy'sprediction: Champions

[True Raven]

Wasn't at the game but on our forum a member who braved the conditions said that LI forward strength was too much for our pack.

Scrums were a lottery with both sides winning penatlies

[Ozzy3213]

That's good to know Raven as that was our fourth choice hooker and loosehead, third choice tighthead, and back up locks. In the back row we had one player on debut and our 3rd choice openside, with an 18 year old coming off the bench. Great for our development.

[carpet baboon]

Your academy certainly churn out some quality players.

[Ozzy3213]

We just need to start keeping hold of them now.

In other news Shane Geraghty has been released by the club and joins Bristol until the end of the season.

[SirBurger]

Shane is still a good player and should have played more last season than he did, but he is probably 5th choice now and best for all parties that he moves on.

I see on the rumours thread we have been linked to Saia Fainga'a. Not sure what to make of that - good player obviously and better than what we have, but imagine he would be pretty expensive. All in all though have to be pleased with competition for Paicey as it is desperately needed.

[Ozzy3213]

[Margin_Walker]

Hooker's certainly a problem position Paice aside SirB. Lots of players have cycled through the 2nd/3rd choice slots without ever kicking on and being anything more than solid. Ellis the latest that looks like he's not quite going to get there. Will reserve judgement on Porecki, but I think don't think he's likely to be the answer long term. Fainga'a would be decent, but not sure where that came from.

Will be interesting to see how Langdon develops after being let go. Notice he was named in the England U20s EPS

Edit - Lovely try from Ransom btw

[Ozzy3213]

So it was the LISC AGM last night, and Bob Casey was in attendance.  A few snippets of what he said....

- No news on signings but confirmed recruitment is going well lead by Brendan and Nick
- Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi is injured and out for 3 months so they are considering bringing in another prop.
- Nick has been looking at who he wants and has given Bob a list of 11 names with a decision to be made by the time we face London Scottish next week.
- With regards to Brentford, the planning decision re rugby being allowed will be in the new year and building work starts in January.  We will not be borrowing money and will have no financial stake in the bricks and mortar of the stadium, therefore no loans to pay back.  It seems most likely would be a joint venture company with Brentford that would manage the non-matchday revenues and the profit split between us and Brentford.
- There is no get out clause in our contract at the MadStad.  There was, but it lapsed under the old board.  Our exit will have to be negotiated.
- Once we know whether rugby is a goer at the new stadium, a decision will be made as to whether we temporarily relocated to Griffin Park.
- Relegation cost us £1.5m, and the board managed to make cuts of £1.4m.  Despite this, funding in the academy actually went up.
- If we achieve promotion this season, we will need to find £4m for next season in order to be competitive and spend to the cap.
- Shane Geraghty's move was a quick bit of business and Shane has been invited back towards the end of the season to have a proper send off.
- The club are actively seeking new sponsors to make up the budget shortfall for next season.
- Connor Murphy will be starting 9 on Saturday, and Rory Brand is staying at Rosslyn Park to get game time where he has established himself as first choice 9 and is going well.
- Fijian Joe is knocking on the door of the first team.
- Two players have picked up injuries in training this week but he didn't say who.
- Isaac Curtis-Harris has had his hamstring operated on and is out until the new year.
- NY Giants are training at Hazelwood on Friday before their game over here at the weekend.

[Margin_Walker]

Cheers for the summary Ozzy. Surprised by the 1.4m figure for the cuts this year. Doesn't feel like we are operating that far below last year's set up. Would be interesting to know how much of that was behind the scenes and how much front of house.

Pretty annoying to have both Smallbone and Danny HA out at the same time, but I guess that's rugby these days.

Would also be interesting to see what Brentford get out of us tapping into their revenue stream on their bricks and mortar.

[Ozzy3213]

I think the vast majority of cuts were behind the scenes MW.  I spoke to one of the directors in the summer who told me that they were trying to keep as much money in the rugby side as possible to give us the best chance this year.  A lot of the office staff lost their jobs, he was very sad about it when telling me.

[Irish Londoner]

In terms of leaving the Mad Stad, was the feeling that Reading would be happy to let us go or that they would want a large payoff?

[Ozzy3213]

Sorry IL but I have no idea on that I'm afraid.

Cracking performance from the young lads at the weekend.  It's easy to see why Bob said that Joe is knocking on the door of the first team.  Back to league action this week and London Scottish are in decent form, I think they've won their last four in all competitions so we will have to be on our game.

[Ozzy3213]

[stnick88]

it will be tough game against Scottish, but I still expect a BP win and a side along the lines of

1 Court
2 Paice
3 Franks
4 De Chaves
5 Robson
6 Coman
7 Northcote Green
8 Treviranus
9 Steele
10 Bell
11 Tikorotuma
12 Mulchrone
13 Fowlie
14 Ojo
15 Marshall

16 Elrington
17 Harris-Wright
18 Palframan
19 Sexton
20 Cowan
21 McKibbin
22 Ransom

[Margin_Walker]

Doubt you'll be too far off. Wouldn't be surprised to see Cokanasiga involved though. They seem to talk him up at every opportunity and was a travelling reserve for us even before starting the two B&I games.

Edit - Also seem to remember hearing a few players have picked up injuries this month. Not sure if Trev was one of them.

[Ozzy3213]

For me Conor Gilsenan and Fiji Joe earned a start this week with their performances on Saturday. I also think that Ciaran Hearn may get a start in the centres.

Marshall, Cokanasiga, Hearn, Mulchrone, Tikoirotuma, Bell, McKibbin;
Court, Paice, Franks, de Chaves, Robson, Coman, Gilsenan, Treviranus.

Harris-Wright, Elrington, Palframan, Lloyd, Northcote-Green, Steele, Ransom

Would be my selection.

[stnick88]

Be happy to see Cokanasiga start over Ojo or Tiks.

Not a fan of Hearn and think him and Mulchone in the centres lacks pace and creativity. We need one of Williams or Fowlie in there for same pace and line breaks.

Gilsenan was good but Northcote-Green and Cowan have both been excellent also so I think he is still 3rd in the pecking order.

[Ozzy3213]

Team for Sunday
London Irish: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Ben Ransom, 10 James Marshall, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice (c), 3 Ben Franks, 4 George Robson, 5 Sebastien De Chaves, 6 Conor Gilsenan, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Ofisa Treviranus
Replacements: 16 Jason Harris-Wright, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Will Lloyd, 20 Senitiki Nayalo, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Topsy Ojo

[Margin_Walker]

Only had to wait a few hours for them to tell us who's playing 12....

Good looking team. Cokanasiga gets a chance allowing Tiks to go to 13 (he's our best 13 imo). Tight five picks itself at the moment, with Gilsenan rewarded for his B&I form.

Will be interesting to see if the experiment with Marshall and Bell switching has much of an effect.

[Ozzy3213]

I prefer Tiks on the wing personally.  His defence worries me at outside centre as he has a habit of rushing up out of the line looking for the big hit.  Great to see Joe getting a start though.

[Margin_Walker]

Agree that his defence positionally isn't fantastic (less likely to get too exposed in the Championship than AP hopefully), but he does offer much more going forward than the other options for me.

He is a better winger, just don't think we have a stand out 13 at the moment, so interested to see how the switch goes for him this week.

[Ozzy3213]

Well that was some performance yesterday.

[stnick88]

I think it is fair to say that Marshall at 10 and Bell at 15 is the way forward! Both were superb. Bell's kicking is world class, and I don't think that is an over statement. he gets such distance when kicking for touch and rarely misses a kick at goal. Marshall took the P**s yesterday, was a different class. the team is really taking shape now. If all were fit, I would like to see;

1 Hobbs
2 Paice
3 Franks
4 De Chaves
5 Robson
6 Coman
7 Cowan
8 Treviranus
9 McKibbin
10 Marshall
11 Cokanasiga
12 Williams
13 Tikorotuma
14 Ojo / Ransom / Fowlie
15 Bell

For Carnegie, assuming that Hobbs, Paice, Coman, Williams aren't fit I would go Court, Harris-Wright, Nayolo, Mulchrone.

[Margin_Walker]

Off work today, so am watching it again. Has been a while since I felt the need to do that with one of our games.

Cracking performance. Need to back it up this weekend, but it was definitely another step up for the club. They look like a team who know how they want to play and have the players at this level to execute that gameplan. Lot's of big performances from the pack as usual, but good to see the backline clicking. The switch of Bell and Marshall really seemed to work and Joe's performance spoke for itself.

Bell's kicking will be vital in closer games. Not had confidence in a kicker like this for a long time.

[Ozzy3213]

I don't think it matters greatly which way round Marshall and Bell play.  They interchanged during the game depending on what was happening.  Having two playmakers certainly caused Scottish a lot of problems.  I thought Cowan was superb yesterday.  Back to his form of a couple of seasons ago.

[Margin_Walker]

Yeah, will always be pretty interchangable. Just enjoyed seeing Marshall get his hands on the ball a little more at first receiver this time out.

Agree re Cowan. Had a great game and seems to be enjoying himself.

[exileray]

I don't think it matters greatly which way round Marshall and Bell play.  They interchanged during the game depending on what was happening.  Having two playmakers certainly caused Scottish a lot of problems.  I thought Cowan was superb yesterday.  Back to his form of a couple of seasons ago.

I thought cowan looked to playing with a smile on his face, any news on a new prop yet pete.

[SirBurger]

Marshall was a joy to watch at 10 apart from the intercept (I know it was called back as we had the advantage) and one moment where he took a quick tap and then kicked possession away. He just seems to put so much pace on the ball in attack. For me there is no reason why we can't mix things up and have a system where Marshall plays as 10 in the latter two/thirds of the pitch with Bell playing at first receiver closer to our own line for relieving kicks.

Overall it was a really strong performance. I am sure I will still be nervous ahead of the Yorkshire game at the weekend, but I think win, lose or draw, yesterday showed that we have the potential to be good side again.

[Ozzy3213]

[Welly]

A lot of clubs are going to be after that Winger.


Glad Bell is playing well Tigers could of done with him this season.

How's Seb getting on.

[Ozzy3213]

I'm sure they will Welly.  Fortunately he has just signed a contract extension, and came through the academy under Kendo, Dodge and Dec.  I imagine that if we get promoted and stay up he will be with us for a while.

Seb has been excellent.  Just does the hard graft that you want from a lock.  Nice guy too, met him before the Connacht game last week.  Tommy Bell I am struggling to see why you let him go.  He was excellent at 10 for us in the first 6 league games this season and on Sunday played 15, scored 2 tries and kicked 10 out of 10 for 32 points in the match.  His kicking for touch has been superb, range and accuracy, and has just allowed us to play in the right areas of the pitch.

[Welly]

We didn't let go of Bell.

He wanted to be a first choice 10, we viewed him as a back up 15. So left.

Shame really.

[Ozzy3213]

Good news for us though.  His goal kicking has been a major factor for us so far.  It makes a huge difference having an 80% kicker to the 60-70% ones we've been used to.

[stnick88]

does anyone know what his actual percentage is? I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher than 80%.

[Ozzy3213]

Just done the maths and he's actually 76.74%.  He's made 33 of 43 kicks.

Interestingly he's 100% from penalties (13/13), but has missed a few conversions (20/30 or 66.67%), mainly from the right hand touchline.

[Ozzy3213]

Darren Allinson to Bath on a short term loan.

[stnick88]

not fussed with that. for me is a long way behind McKibbin and Steele and Conor Murphy wouldn't be out of place on the bench for us.

[Ozzy3213]

It's a deal which works well for everyone. Bath get some cover and we get a player who effectively looks surplus to requirements off the wage bill for 3 months.

[SirBurger]

Just done the maths and he's actually 76.74%.  He's made 33 of 43 kicks.

Interestingly he's 100% from penalties (13/13), but has missed a few conversions (20/30 or 66.67%), mainly from the right hand touchline.

I'm amazed it is as low as that, particularly after 100% against Scottish. He certainly has the feel of a 80-85% kicker. I guess he must be nailing the ones that count and therefore creating the impression of being a higher-percentage kicker. Regardless of percentages, he is definitely the best goal-kicker we have had in some time.

[Margin_Walker]

Too many tries in the corner from mauls...

[Ozzy3213]

No such thing as 'too many' tries in the corner from mauls!

[stnick88]

in the past, we haven't scored enough tries from mauls and conceded too many.

scoring lots of tries from mauls in the Champ should help us when(if) we are back in the Prem.

the Paice try from the maul v Scottish was a perfectly set maul. simple but effective.

[Ozzy3213]

Three changes to the 22 for this week.  Ellis in at hooker for Paice and Coman in for Gilsenan on the blindside, Todd Gleave takes Harris-Wrights place on the bench.  I understand that JHW was due to start with Ellis on the bench but he may have failed a fitness test this morning.

[Heaf]

Emphatic win for Irish - a few work on's especially dealing with the high ball, but definitely going in the right direction.  41-17 against 2nd in the league is not to be sniffed at.

[Ozzy3213]

Not our best performance of the season. Last 15 minutes of first half and first 15 of the second were very sloppy. We left at least a couple of tries out, but absolutely trounced our closest rivals for the title. Not too shabby, we are building nicely.

[SirBurger]

It was a weird one. We beat our nearest rivals by 25 points, but I still felt there was more to come. I think Yorkshire are some way below Premiership standard, but it did give an indication of where we would need to improve if we did secure promotion.

Marshall was very good again in attack and orchestrating things. I think we are still waiting for a 100% performance from him though. He put one out on the full and one pass that went to nobody. I think he has the ability to iron those things out of his game and I am looking forward to that happening as he can tear teams to pieces.

[Ozzy3213]

Did you stay around for his interview after the game SB?  He basically said the same, that he didn't think he played that well and there is a lot more to come from the whole team.

I thought we were always well in control of that game.  The intercept try seemed to kill all our momentum for a bit which was a shame, but overall it was job well done.

[SirBurger]

Did you stay around for his interview after the game SB?  He basically said the same, that he didn't think he played that well and there is a lot more to come from the whole team.

I thought we were always well in control of that game.  The intercept try seemed to kill all our momentum for a bit which was a shame, but overall it was job well done.

Unfortunately I took my parents who both were more interested in drinking at the bar than listening to the post-game interviews . Glad that we don't seem to be getting complacent.

The intercept try was a bit frustrating and Ellis also blew a 3 on 1 by being selfish. However, the line-out went better than I thought it would so hard to be too critical of him.

We have a week off now and then back at it against Pirates. We have three tough league games before the double header against Pirates in the B&I so I suspect we may wait until then before making wholesale changes to the line-up.

[Ecksile]

That middle half hour of the game went very stale, the intercept try definitely took the wind out of our sails. I thought Scott Steele provided the impetus when he came on, seemed like he woke the team up.

Still find it frustrating that we can't manage to hold on for that last 10 minutes, we've been conceding in the final 5/10 minutes for seemingly years. Just feels like lacking that killer touch.
IMHO this is a far more cohesive squad than last year.

Cowan just seems to have come alive this year and seems to be enjoying his rugby again (as do the others)

Can't help but wonder how we'd do if this same squad was playing in the Aviva at the moment.......

[Margin_Walker]

That middle half hour of the game went very stale, the intercept try definitely took the wind out of our sails. I thought Scott Steele provided the impetus when he came on, seemed like he woke the team up.

Still find it frustrating that we can't manage to hold on for that last 10 minutes, we've been conceding in the final 5/10 minutes for seemingly years. Just feels like lacking that killer touch.
IMHO this is a far more cohesive squad than last year.

Cowan just seems to have come alive this year and seems to be enjoying his rugby again (as do the others)

Can't help but wonder how we'd do if this same squad was playing in the Aviva at the moment.......

I'm pretty confident we'd be doing better than Bristol are at least. Definitely going in the right direction, but it's obviously a big step back up.

Thought something similar about conceding last minute tries and just posted something about it on the Craic. Basically we've conceded 14 tries for the season at the following times

9
13
26
29
50
50
54
60
79
79
80
80
80
80

That's five of them in the last minute or in injury time. Hard to grumble give how great the defence has been, but interesting all the same.

[Sponsored content]