Newcastle ... 16 London Irish ... 17: Winning the English Cup at Twickenham last season was the biggest achievement in London Irish's history and in the north-east yesterday the Exiles pulled off their greatest escape for many a decade, scrambling into the last eight after trailing 16-5 with seconds of normal time remaining. Robert Kitson reports.
Despite failing to land a single goal kick until the 85th minute, one final lunge by the London Irish replacement prop Simon Halford and a calm, angled conversion by Mark Mapletoft, who was also a substitute, condemned Newcastle to defeat.
Mapletoft, who had been sent on to replace the out-of-form Barry Everitt, has not always been the most reliable of pressure goalkickers, but he struck the crucial kick sweetly. Irish now have a home tie against Rotherham in the quarter-finals.
More important in the short term, however, is the result of Sunday's league game against Newcastle in Reading, with both sides desperate for points at the bottom of the Premiership.
En route to Twickenham last season Irish sneaked several games thanks to Everitt's right boot but, with the man from Tipperary a long way short of his normal reliability, they had to locate other methods after trailing 13-5 at the interval on a heavy pitch.
Newcastle, with their new Kiwi centre Mark Mayerhofler looking assured in midfield, had to do a lot of tackling but were better at taking their chances, notably when Michael Horak's attempted chip was gathered by another Kiwi debutant Craig Newby, who duly put Tom May clear under the posts for the home side's only try after 20 minutes.
Mike Worsley's try just before half-time, though, was an isolated example of Irish precision in the opposition 22 until Neal Hatley, part of the revolving bench strategy the Exiles choose to employ, muscled his way over after another series of forward drives in the 80th minute.
Even then, with Mapletoft's well-struck conversion just falling wide, there was still gloom in the stands, where the London Irish technical coach Gary Gold spent a frustrating afternoon bemoaning his own players' lack of finishing craft and a variety of refereeing decisions.
Finally Irish worked their way back upfield, Halford dived for glory and Mapletoft did the rest. "If they keep playing like that they'll give me a heart attack," muttered Gold afterwards.
Irish's director of rugby Conor O'Shea has been around long enough, though, to spot a mirage. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know what an important game it is," he said, his thoughts already turning to the Falcons post-Christmas trip south.
Another defeat in the Thames Valley, with Jonny Wilkinson not a certain starter, and Andrew will be facing an unenviable new year.
Keith Wood returned to action in Harlequins' late cup victory over Leeds, 17-13, on Saturday. The Ireland captain, who has played one game since September because of a neck injury, came on for Tani Fuga on 59 minutes.
NEWCASTLE: Noon; Botham, May, Mayerhofler, Shaw; Godman, Charlton; Peel (Isaacson, 76), Makin (Christian, half-time), Hurter (Ward, half-time), Hamilton, Grimes, Taione (Otuvaka, 76), Dowson (Newby, 55), Vyvyan (capt).
LONDON IRISH: Horak; Bishop, Burrows, Venter, Sackey; Everitt (Mapletoft, 63), Edwards (Martens, 60); Worsley (Hatley, 46), Drotske (Kirke, 46), Hardwick (Halford, 44), Strudwick (capt), Kennedy, Gustard (Dawson, 54), Danaher, Sheasby.
Referee: S Leyshon (Bristol).
ENGLISH CUP: Quarter-final draw: Gloucester v Saracens; Bath v Northampton; Harlequins v Leicester; London Irish v Rotherham.
Ties to be played on January 25th and 26th
Guardian Service
