Europe here we come!
Lock up your daughters because London Irish are in town. The form team in both the premiership and the EDF challenge cup are about to embark on their greatest adventure and conquer the might of Europe! Well that's enough of the bullshit and hopefully enough to keep the green tinted spec brigade happy! Now down to the real business.This will be the third Heineken cup campaign that Irish will feature in and hopefully one in which we might actually maintain an interest beyond the third game. In all honesty, my own experiences of the Exiles performance away from home in this and other European competitions have not instilled any sort of confidence. Add to this our current league form and suddenly this so-called easy group that we are in, may start to appear a bit more daunting.
For our first match we welcome Italian champions Benetton Treviso to the Madejski stadium. Founded in 1932, Treviso have won 12 national titles and 3 Italian cups. They are coached by former Springbok number 10, Franco Smith and are one of the most successful Italian sides. After the disappointment of last season the Exiles will be looking on this match to kick start another European adventure and will hopefully be fielding a full strength team in order to get the job done, but Italian international flanker and Treviso captain Silvio Orlando has already been on record as stating that they don't intend on being the pool 1 whipping boys!
Irish will need to stamp their authority on this match from the onset as no doubt Perpignan and Newport Gwent Dragons will be targeting their corresponding fixtures as 5 pointers. It would be perfectly feasible that Treviso will upset the applecart with one or more of the teams in this group, certainly on home soil as it is rumoured that the Mafia are betting heavily on the Italian team. They have also run the seeded favourites, Perpignan very close in recent encounters so are proving to be no pushovers. Positive spin? Treviso have not won on English soil since beating Harlequins 22 - 19 at the Stoop in the 1999/2000 season. They have also not won a group game since 2004 and have since lost 12 straight games on the trot in this competition.
When you look at the history you would be inclined to chalk this one up as an easy victory for Irish, particularly on home soil but considering our recent form I wouldn’t put money on any game being a certainty. Treviso will be up for this match and they consider that they have been lucky with the draw this time around, they also have some inside knowledge of the Irish structure and tactics as, I’m sure, ex LI man Michael Horak will have informed them.
Anybody expecting to come down to the Madejski to witness a cricket score had better stay at home and watch the cricket. This could be a lot closer than you imagine and unless our new recruits, with limited game time as a unit, have miraculously bonded with our world cup returnees who in turn have immediately re-gelled with their team mates who have been holding the fort while they were away on their jollies; then you could even envisage an upset. There is of course another way to view it; maybe we will have a full complement of players with Faan, Shane and Catty all back in the team, maybe our backs will run onto beautifully flighted passes and then in turn, pass to one another, maybe we will see the return of champagne rugby and maybe Brian Smith knows what he is doing!
Irish by 20 and a TB.
--Upandunder