Van Rensburg lands late knockout punch for Irish

By TOM VICKERS

Northampton ..26pts

Tries: Hendy 31, Fish 56, Gillespie 65, Litchfield 72

Conversions: Grayson 31, 56, 72

London Irish ….36pts

Tries: Stokes 14, Munga 18, O'Sullivan 22, Van Rensburg 40, 74

Conversions: Jennings 14, 22, 40, 74

Penalties: Jennings 7

Take off: James Stokes dives over to score London Irish's first try despite the efforts of Tom Litchfield

PICTURE: Getty Images

ASSISTANT coach Declan Dannaher saluted London Irish for how they handled two very different halves of rugby at at Franklin's Gardens.

Irish flew into a 26-7 halftime lead against Northampton Saints in the Premiership Rugby Cup opener, earning a try bonus point in the process. James Stokes, Chunya Munga, Hugh O'Sullivan and Benhard van Rensburg all dotted down before the break for Irish but Saints came roaring back with James Fish, Josh Gillespie and Tom Litchfield all adding to George Hendy's debut score from the first half.

The hosts had hope of a fantastic comeback success when they drew level at 26-26 with eight minutes to go, but Irish hit them with a sucker punch.

Centre van Rensburg came back from the sin bin to score his second try of the day, with Rory Jennings converting superbly and then kicking a penalty to make sure of the win.

Dannaher said: “Im so pleased for the lads taking the opportunity to pull the jersey on. We were superb in the first half and in fairness to Saints, they came out and played a lot better in the second half.

“To grind it out for that 30 minutes and having a man in the bin as well, was pleasing. We took our chance at the end with a great try and Jenno showed he was in good form at the moment as he kicked the conversion and then the penalty.

“He had ice in his veins and he needs to keep doing what he's doing.”

Stokes was the early star of the show as the London Irish full-back first stopped Litchfield from scoring before finishing off a tidy move at the other end.

That score seemed to give Irish a real life, and they were soon celebrating again as another patient piece of play resulted in Chunya Munga scoring in the corner.

Northampton were shipping plenty of penalties and Irish were looking razor-sharp, scoring again when van Rensburg and Jack Cooke combined to set O'Sullivan clear.

Saints finally hit back when Gillespie offloaded to Hendy for a debut try, but Irish bagged their bonus point when van Rensburg went over. James Grayson converted and Saints were eager to build before the break, but on the brink of half-time they conceded another try.

Irish stayed patient and after several surges for the line they finally got over for their bonus-point score, through centre van Rensburg.

Saints flew out of the blocks in the second half as Tom Collins' fine footwork opened the door for Fish to score.

Van Rensburg was sinbinned as Irish offences stacked up before Grayson's fine pass was finished off by Gillespie.

The Saints drew level when Litchfield sped down the right and dived over, and Grayson's conversion levelled it. But Irish had the final say as Izzy Moore- Aiono took the ball within range and van Rensburg did the rest.

Jennings converted and then added a penalty to seal the win.

Saints forwards coach Phil Dowson said: “Taking into consideration the number of people who played for the first time and the age profile of the group, we showed tremendous character and resolve to come back to level late on.

“To concede in the final five minutes was frustrating because we got all the way back in the game and then we kind of butchered it. There were some good parts, some bad parts and there was so much to learn for a young group.”