London Irish Wild Geese prove too strong for Chichester

Blues made nine changes to the team that beat Guildford convincingly the week before with Callum Redding and Alex Einchcomb coming into the pack, Matt McLagan, Charlie Davies, Jo Amin and Napoloni Rabale in the back line and Robbie Hawkshaw, Tom Pink and Josaia Korobiau on the bench.

With the ex-pro pitch in excellent condition, and a force seven south westerly blowing directly across the ground, Chichester kicked off under the lights.

With the hosts coming off the back of a poor run that saw them lose four out of five, it was a very nervy start that saw both teams spill the ball in contact and struggle to throw straight at the lineout. But Blues’ forwards looked to have the upper hand in the scrum.

On 15 minutes a Chichester infringement on halfway gave Irish a lineout on the 22m line which resulted in a scrum and a further penalty against the Blues. The hosts elected for a second scrum from which their fly half ran through the Chichester defence, to score under the posts. Converted, 7-0.

After 30 minutes Blues finally got the ball into the Irish red zone. Desperate defending, that saw an Exiles player receive a yellow card, cleared the ball up field.

In the final three minutes of the half Irish upped the tempo and scored two tries, one of which was converted making it 19-0 at half-time.

The second half started with further Irish infringements that saw them lose another player to the sin bin, but this didn’t stop them scoring a bonus-point try on 50 minutes. Converted, 26-0.

Chichester fans had to wait another 15 minutes to see their side score.

Young winger Joel Andrews burst through the opposition defence in his own half, brushing aside tacklers, before offloading to the supporting Luca Fleming in the Irish red zone, and he beat the last man to score under the posts. Converted by Fleming, 26-7.

The hosts’ response was immediate with Blues pinned back on their try line defending a series of pick and goes before conceding. Conversion missed, 31-7.

Chi didn’t give up and from the restart pressured Irish into an infringement on the 22m line. Blues’ scrum, which had had the edge for most of the game, started to drive the opposition back before the referee signalled a free ball, but it wasn’t required.

Josef Amin spun the ball out to Rhys Thompson who charged into contact and offloaded to the supporting Andrews for a short dash to dot down under the posts. Converted by Fleming, 31-14.

Chichester continued to look for a third try, but it was London Irish who scored on 80 minutes in the corner. A great conversion from out wide with wind assistance pulled the ball back through the posts.

Full time, 38-14. Once again, Chichester’s performance provided positives. It wasn’t a great day for rugby, with the strong winds whipping across the pitch, but the squad will regroup in training in the knowledge that the next two matches are vital if the team is to pull clear of the relegation zone.