Published: Saturday, 11th October, 2008 6:00pm
Exiles enjoy Rovigo romp
by Ben SteeleLondon Irish 78 Rovigo 3
FANS and pundits alike arrived at the Madejski Stadium expecting to see London Irish rack up a cricket score against their Italian opponents.
And if the England batsmen had been as successful this summer as the Exiles were in their first Challenge Cup pool match, then perhaps it would still be Michael Vaughan leading out the team for next year's Ashes.
Because this rout in the October sun saw Irish completely dominate Rovigo - although it could have been even worse for the Italians as they stared down the barrel of a 49-3 deficit just half an hour into the game.
A battling second half display helped limit the damage somewhat, but a strong Irish XV were able to show off their full reportoire of skills and there were encouraging second half cameos from Shane Geraghty and Peter Richards for head coach Toby Booth to enjoy.
He admitted: "Once we had put the result to bed we then had the chance to get a few of the boys up to speed.
"With no A team rugby there are a lot of players such as Shane and Declan Danaher chomping at the bit to get some game time and we could do that today."
Irish ensured the points would be staying in Reading with a blistering first half display full of attack-minded running rugby.
The men from North East Italy must have known they would be in for a long afternoon when the hosts decided to run the ball from inside their own 22 in the first minute.
A quick series of passes down the backline proved more than sufficient to open up the visitors' defence, with Samoan flyer Sailosi Tagicakibau scorching 80 metres to open the scoring.
Fellow countryman Seilala Mapusua followed suit four minutes later after a lovely chip and chase, with two Peter Hewat conversions making it 14-0.
Rovigo were clearly eager to take any chance that came their way of getting on the scoresheet and wing Stefan Basson opened their account in the 11th minute with a superbly struck penalty from inside his own half.
But it was to prove, as expected, temporary respite as the home side embarked on a 17 minute blitz that saw them cross five more times - all convrted by Hewat - and force everybody to start scrambling for the record books.
While Saracens' competition points record of 151 never looked in serious danger, a three figure margin of victory looked odds on as Paul Hodgson, Elvis Seveali'i, Delon Armitage and Topsy Ojo all helped themselves to scores with a penalty try making it 49-3 after 31 minutes.
The Exiles' back line were clearly enjoying themselves, mixing some intricate attacks - particularly for Seveali'i's try - with basic quick handling to make the space they required.
But just when you might have expected the visitors to start wilting, they redoubled their defensive efforts to keep the scoreline the same until the half-time whistle.
When Seveali'i grabbed his second try in the first minute after the break, the crowd of nearly 6,000 must have been expecting more of the same for the remaining 40 minutes.
But a raft of replacements seemed to stagnate the hosts and they added just 10 more points in the next half hour courtesy of tries from Richards and the sole contribution from a forward, number eight Chris Hala'ufia.
Rovigo put in a better display in the second period, although they never seemed likely to trouble the hosts' defence.
And as the promise of a century of points gradually ebbed away, tries in the last 10 minutes from Shane Geraghty and Richards rounded off their tally.
It gets the Exiles off to the perfect start in Pool One of a competition Booth admits he is fully focused on.
He said: "I wanted to show we are serious about the competition with our selection and I think our performance showed that too.
"Of course it will not be easy, but our aim for the season is to win something and I believe the Challenge Cup is something we can be very competitive in."
London Irish: D Armitage; Ojo, Seveali'i, Mapasua, Tagicakibau; Hewat, Hodgson; Corbisiero, Coetzee, Lea'aetoa; Kennedy, Casey (c); Thorpe, S Armitage, Hala'ufia. Replacements: Dermody, Buckland, Johnson, Danaher, Thompstone, Richards, Geraghty.
Rovigo: Pavin; Basson, Pizarro, Pellegrini, Sanchez; Ambrosio, Canale; Fortuna, Vicere, Orlandi; Reato, Barion; Favaro, Alfredo, Immelman. Replacements: Damiano, Mahoney, Tumiati, Badocchi, Anouer, Baccetti, Calanchini.
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