Jacobs and Wasps sting Irish's title ambitions

London Irish began their trio of season defining matches with a 33-25 defeat against Wasps at High Wycombe in a sensational game of rugby.

Adams Park remained a bogey ground for the Exiles as their run there extended to just one win in ten. Both sides welcomed back a number of regulars who were rested during the LV-Cup ties and others deemed not necessary for their international squads to add extra spice to the occasion.

A frenetic start saw high intensity running, and both teams won kickable penalties in the first five minutes. Ryan Lamb - who has had a superb start to the season - pushed his from the touchline wide, while opposite number, Dave Walder, made no mistake from just inside the Irish half.

One of the players released from Martin Johnson’s squad earlier in the week, Tim Payne, was punished twice in quick succession at the scrum, gifting Lamb the opportunity to level the scores. Irish continued to play with power at speed, but married with the dexterity, calmness and accuracy of their in-form stand-off’s kicking from hand.

But it was Wasps who scored the opening try after a quick-witted 22-drop out from Walder put them on the attack against a disorganised Irish defence. Good hands from the home side unleashed Tom Varndell, and quick recycling from England hopeful Joe Simpson led to Simon Kefu cutting a line before feeding centre partner Ben Jacobs, who carried three defenders over the line to score.

The man who started it all knocked over the conversion to make it 10-3.

Simpson, with his seemingly trademark socks around his ankles, was constantly buzzing around the base of the breakdown. His incredible turn of pace and rapid service gave Wasps fantastic opportunities in attack, and while all the talk has been about Ben Youngz in England’s number nine shirt – the 22-year old who has been so unfortunate with injuries, will be ready to step up if and when called upon.

Irish quickly retaliated, but in comparison to the pace of Simpson and the game up until the 28th minute, the try was made with brute strength. Chris Hala’ufia swatted three Wasps defenders off the back of a scrum with his right hand to pop to the supporting Paul Hodgson who ran in from 25-meters to bring his side back to within two points - Lamb failing with another touchline kick.

A penalty each left the score 15-13 at half-time, but the home side were down to 14-men after Payne saw yellow for a number of needless penalties.

Irish took full advantage of their extra man straight from the kick off, as positive play took them from 22 to 22, where Lamb put another deft chip through causing chaos in the Wasps defence. The ball popped up to Dean Bowden to dab under the posts – though there was more than a sniff of a forward pass in the build up – and Lamb easily converted.

Walder retaliated instantly with his fourth kick from five, but the second half didn’t get going until the 60th minute.

The Exiles spurned two opportunities just meters from the Wasps line in quick succession as Nick Kennedy was turned over when an extra pass would have seen Topsy Ojo cross the whitewash, and then Steffon Armitage left his rival England openside flanker - Tom Rees - for dead, only to knock it forward under pressure from the covering tackle.

The Exiles were dominant in this period and a score could have buried their hosts. But from nothing, Wasps turned the game on its head.

From a scrum on the half way line, man-of-the-match Jacobs ghosted through the opposition defence, feeding Joe Worsley. Quick ball again from the breakdown left the home side with a huge overlap, allowing Kefu to stroll over. Walder added the extras to put his side back in the lead 23-18 and they never looked back.

Worsley did what his team mates couldn’t earlier and smashed Hala’ufia on the Wasps 10-meter line, where his back row partner and captain Rees turned the ball over to launch an instinctive counter attack. Varndell was given the ball in space and there was no stopping the flying wing. The conversion stretched Wasps’ lead to 12-points with just five minutes remaining.

Irish thought they had secured at least a losing bonus point when substitute prop Paulica Ion went over with 90-seconds remaining, but Wasps, who finally won a penalty against the Irish scrum, kicked three points to ensure a 33-25 win, and an empty handed return trip down the M40 for Toby Booth’s men.

American football doesn't start any fires in London

Fireworks, lights, sparkle, glitz, glamour, beer, excitement, passion, hot dogs, music, superstars, exhilaration, big – American.

Last weekend the National Football League (NFL) of America rolled into London and dominated the spiritual home of English sport like nothing else. Red, white and blue didn’t just drape the inside of the stadium, but outside there was a remarkable ‘Tailgate Party’ serving beer, food, American Football-influenced fairground-esque attractions, a mock stadium and a live music stage.

Merchandise stalls hawked the wares of all the NFL franchises showing this event was not just about the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos, but was an opportunity for every fan of the sport in Britain to celebrate the game.

The scale of the event was unreal – something not seen in the UK even at the biggest sporting occasions – yet this was just a regular season game.

Hundreds of figures decorated the parameter of the pitch from TV crews, cheerleaders, a drumming band brought especially from San Francisco and of course the players – the huge squads took a side of the pitch each dwarfing ‘soccer’s’ technical areas as just about big enough for the huge Gatorade containers.

It is a shame the players – those competing in the sport – are the ones mentioned last, as amongst the razzmatazz the game is lost.

As flames reach to the sky and multi-platinum musicians are rolled on-and-off the pitch the spectacle overshadows the actual event.

When only an hour of actual play is scheduled, but it takes getting on for four hours to complete, there is something wrong – especially at the scheduled cheerleader displays with two minutes remaining of each quarter irrespective of the momentum of the teams or how close the game may be.

A further gripe is the number of players used. Huge squads are rotated for every play depending on the situation, with the sportsmen competing clearly labelled as only possessing a single discernable skill – to tackle, to run, to throw, to catch, to kick or to get in the way – as was the case of the 6’3” Denver Bronco who ticks scales over the 24-stone mark.

There were some awesome moments in the game – spectacular fakes, unbelievable catches, huge hits and incredible excitement – and when there was a few quick phases and a flow to the game it was exciting to watch. But these occasions were far too far apart and often lost as your eyes were caught by the shiny added extras around the side rather than the grind of the main event.

American Football is an institution in the States as families attend with BBQs on the back of their pick-ups and treat it as a day out, and perhaps my nonselence about it is ingrained with the British vs. American psyche as I expect most of our cousins across the pond view 11-men dressed in white and standing on a field all day, for five days, with breaks for lunch and scones a tea-time as somewhat peculiar.

When the NFL came to Wembley it was incredible event – the atmosphere was like no-other and the excitement was phenomenal – but the game was forgotten.

P.S – 49ers won 24-16.