English Premiership/London Irish 22 Leicester 13:It was a year ago that Shane Geraghty made his Six Nations mark by coming on as a replacement outhalf against France and creating the winning try with a break from his own half, but there is unlikely to be a repeat in Paris on Saturday, even if England unexpectedly develop a penchant for attack.
The 21-year-old, one of the most creative players in the squad, suffered a knee injury after dominating the opening 25 minutes yesterday.
Geraghty, who was playing at inside-centre but often acting as first receiver, hyperextended his left knee and was forced to leave the field before half-time.
The game suffered as a spectacle: he had teased and tormented the Leicester defence, his half-break and pass setting up Topsy Ojo to touch down after six minutes, only for the try to be ruled out by the video referee. He attacked the advantage line, using his range of passing skills to put away runners, but such was his balance and timing he was never collared.
Geraghty bears comparison with Wales's James Hook given his ability to create off his own possession, but he is well behind Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Danny Cipriani in the England set-up. His injury, caused after he slipped trying to tackle Andy Goode, is likely to rule him out for a couple of weeks, not that England would have had the boldness to pick him anyway.
At the start yesterday it was hard to tell Geraghty apart from outhalf Eoghan Hickey and fullback Peter Hewat, three players of similar stature with blond crops. But Geraghty stood out in the way he played and would have been distinct in fog: everything revolved around him and after just 11 minutes, Irish were 10 points up. The number eight Peter Thorpe finished off a move Geraghty had initiated.
Leicester immediately fought their way back. Ayoola Erinle supported a break from halfway by his outhalf Andy Goode, who used a decoy run by the wing Johne Murphy to wrong-foot the defence, but Goode went on to miss three penalties.
And there was the contribution of Geraghty's replacement, Mike Catt, who came on for his first appearance in seven weeks rather earlier than he would have relished. The sorcerer took over from his apprentice and dropped a 40-yard goal with two minutes to go to confirm Leicester's defeat and deny the Tigers, who were looking to go top of the table, even a bonus point on an afternoon when the kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes because part of the pitch was frozen.
Irish thoroughly deserved their victory, even if a tendency to switch off at crucial moments nearly cost them. In scrumhalf Paul Hodgson they had an effective link between forwards and backs, but, without Geraghty, it was Hickey's three second-half penalties that saw them home.
LONDON IRISH: Hewat; Ojo, D Armitage, Geraghty (Catt, 40), Tagicakibau; Hickey, Hodgson; Lea'aetoa (Skuse, 60), Paice (Coetzee, 60), Rautenbach (D Murphy, 47); Kennedy (Hudson, 73), Casey (capt); Roche (P Murphy, 73), S Armitage, Thorpe.
LEICESTER: G Murphy; Varndell, Erinle, Smith, J Murphy; Goode, Lassucq; Stankovich, Kayser (Chuter, 67), Castrogiovanni; Hamilton, Kay; Croft, Herring (Crane, 68), Corry (capt).
Referee: A Small (Bedfordshire).
Guardian Service
