Casey and Irish keep faith with traditions

EUROPEAN CUP SEMI-FINALS:THE EUPHORIA of the occasion was captured in two moments either side of referee Alain Rolland's final whistle at the Madejski stadium on Saturday, and both involved the London Irish captain and secondrow, Bob Casey.

When Perpignan were penalised in the final throes of the contest it required Irish to simply put the ball off the pitch to bring an end to this Heineken Cup quarter-final. Casey was handed the ball and he summarily thumped the leather into the stands, much to the amusement of his team-mates. His second cameo was to dance a quasi-Irish jig in tandem with his fellow lock Nick Kennedy.

Casey laughs: "It (the kick) was a pretty good spiral. I was happy with that and it could have travelled a lot farther but I was quite close to the touchline and didn't want to overdo it. As far as the jumping up and down is concerned I might want to curtail that in the future. It wasn't very graceful."

The emotion was understandable. It was the Exiles' first Heineken Cup quarter-final and they faced a French side slap in form having won six of their last seven games, including away victories against Stade Français and Bourgoin. Perpignan also boasted a pedigree on the road in Europe, to which Leinster would attest, and in some eyes were favourites.

Irish though produced a performance of intelligence and flair, negating the gargantuan visiting pack while refusing to abandon their own expansive patterns for a more conservative approach.

It was a victory for planning and application. Casey paid tribute to the management team.

"Brian Smith and Toby Booth have spent two-and-a-half years building this very good, young squad. We were confident going into the match and pretty much played the perfect game. We had spoken all week about the need for discipline and not giving Percy Montgomery too many chances.

"In that respect we were delighted when Alain Rolland was appointed as referee. He is one of the best in the world and very authoritative. There's no messing."

Casey stressed Irish were determined to remain true to how they like to play the game.

"That's the way we play and we are given the encouragement to do that, even if there are one or two mistakes. We have a tremendous back three in terms of pace and counterattacking skills and they're slap bang in form. We're also fortunate that when we did pick up one or two injuries we had players like Shane Geraghty to come on."

The plan was to introduce Geraghty - it was his first game back after injury - for Mike Catt at half-time but a bang on the calf for the former England international precipitated Geraghty's appearance by about eight minutes.

Irish also had to contend with the loss of their former All Black loosehead prop Clarke Dermody (leg muscle) at the interval but coped seamlessly. Catt and Dermody will be available for the semi-final but Delon Armitage damaged an ankle and looks like missing the remainder of the season.

Of more pressing concern for Casey and his team-mates is Sunday's Guinness Premiership game against the Newcastle Falcons.

"We have got to be very professional. At this point in the league in terms of our standings we are not in next season's Heineken Cup and having experienced everything we have this season we certainly don't want to miss out.

"We have four games left and feel that they are all winnable but we have to go and do that. We're all looking forward to the Toulouse match but it has to be put in context of what we can do between now and then."

It's hard to escape the feeling that Irish, whose style of play is similar to that of the Leinster team that shocked Toulouse a couple of season's back, have a better chance than many suspect of upsetting the three-time champions.

The Exiles boast a brilliant lineout and the pace and counter-attacking flair to force-feed Toulouse some of their own medicine off turnover ball. Casey insists they will not compromise their playing style at Twickenham on April 26th.

"We will carry no baggage into the game and will take risks. We are prepared to make the odd mistake in trying to play that way. The surface at Twickenham is excellent and we're looking for dry conditions on the day. It's just down the road from where we train so we will feel at home."

Tickets went on sale on Sunday and while ERC was suggesting a crowd of 30,000, it's likely to be bigger. When Irish got to the 2002 Powergen final they brought 45,000 spectators. They also expect a few Munster supporters to take in the match before heading to Coventry the next day.

Mention of Munster reminds Casey he's just watched the video of Munster's win over Gloucester.

"They were very impressive. Saracens are a decent side but they'll miss Chris Jack and Andy Farrell . . . They have very good halfbacks who can control a game but when (outhalf) Glenn Jackson is not there, Saracens aren't nearly as effective . . . Cobus Visagie is probably the best tighthead scrumwise in the Premiership but I'd expect Munster to have too much for them."

For the moment though Casey knows that he must change tipples from Heineken to Guinness.