Improving Irish aim to stay the course
UNLIKE the needles on most Christmas trees by this stage of the festivities, London Irish have no intention of dropping off from the Premiership fight when the pressure intensifies.
On the contrary, the men in green are adamant they will grow and flourish as time goes on and hang around the top half of the table for considerably longer.
Nick Phipps certainly believes they will continue to be a real pain in the side of their rivals entering the second half of the Premiership campaign.
The experienced Aussie has never been a shrinking violet when the pressure intensifies and growing reputations and expectations are placed on the line.
Test scrum-half Phipps insists seventh placed Irish – who were scheduled to play basement side Bath tomorrow in Brentford before a late call off due to Covid – have their eyes focused on what is above them in the table and not below.
Even an end of year blip at Wasps, where they fell short in another high scoring affair but still managed a try-bonus point, has not dampened the ardour of a bunch of players prepared for the long slog which lies ahead.
Phipps, 32, said: “The critics can think what they want. We aim to keep plugging away and take some big scalps.
“We know we are on an upward trajectory and every game we want to get better and learn. If we can do that, improve our defence for the full 80 minutes, then who knows where we can end up. But it’s definitely in our hands now and we have to keep climbing up that ladder.
“I’d like to see more wins on the board and try and fulfil the destiny this bunch of players deserves. We want to be in that top half and the maturity we are building each week will put us in good stead come the remaining five or six months of the campaign.
“We consider where we sit in the table at the moment is barely a pass mark. But our squad is infinitely deeper than we’ve had for the last few years and we are in a good place to not just press on in the Premiership but build on a strong start in Europe. We have so many young blokes pushing for places but it’s about the squad and not just individuals.”
Declan Kidney and his coaching staff have been working extra hard on trying to instil that defensive toughness and durability which the wizened Irishman knows is required if Exiles are to keep alive their top six aspirations.
Phipps adds: “The first half of the season has been a mixed bag. We’ve been brilliant in attack scoring some excellent tries and being a real threat to opponents but we’ve also switched off in defence too many times. And at this level of competition other teams will make you pay for it. So we need to get stronger in that department as a group.
“We should also have won a few more games but the confidence among the players is very high.”
■ Following the cancellation of their Premiership Rugby Cup game with Exeter earlier this week, Bath returned further positive Covid-19 tests and a significant number of their playing squad were ruled out. This meant Bath were unable to safely fulfil the fixture with London Irish.
A Premiership Rugby panel will be convened to determine the allocation of Cup points.
