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The first ever Aviva Premiership match outside of England saw Saracens defeating London Irish 26-16 at New Jersey’s Red Bull Arena this afternoon.
Played in front of a crowd of 14,811 people the official attendance approached double that of today’s Super Rigby fixture in Singapore between the Sunwolves and Cheetahs. The Super Rugby fixture in the south-east Asian country was played in front of 8,808 spectators.
The comparison offers insight into where rugby is in the USA as the start of the eagerly awaited PRO Rugby draws ever so close. The five-team domestic league will include three Californian teams in addition to one in Denver, Colorado and the fifth in Columbus Ohio.
When London Irish confirmed they would be playing against Saracens in the New York area it was widely speculated that the same area would be getting a PRO Rugby team. For the inaugural season this is not the case though additional teams are to join the competition in 2017.
At the Red Bull Arena this afternoon London Irish enjoyed a positive start, crossing for an early try. The TMO, though, ruled it to be a non-try which saw Greig Tonks opening the scoring through a penalty.
Saracens scrum half, Ben Spencer failed to equalize two minutes later but his side scored the first Aviva Premiership try outside of England with Alex Goode running clear past would be tacklers.
The four point lead was short lived as London Irish hit-back with winger Alex Lewington going over. An additional penalty saw London Irish ahead 13-7 at half time.
With Eagles Chris Wyles, Hayden Smith and Titi Lamositele looking for a win on U.S. soil Saracens produced a much improved second half. Goode took over the kicking responsibilities and succeeded in landing four penalties and converting the only try of the second half.
With London Irish unable to score a second half try the match was one without any competition points for the bottom placed Premiership club. As it stands London Irish are eight points behind the Newcastle Falcons and thirteen between the Worcester Warriors. Relegation is increasingly likely for the Exiles.
LONDON IRISH 16
Tries – A. Lewington
Cons – G. Tonks
Pens – G. Tonks 3
SARACENS 26
Tries – A. Goode, N. Tompkins
Cons – B. Spencer, A Goode
Pens – A. Goode 4
LONDON IRISH
1 Tom Smallbone 2 Tom Cruse 3 Halani Aulika 4 Matt Symons 5 Elliott Stooke 6 Luke Narraway (capt.) 7 Blair Cowan 8 Rob McCusker 9 Scott Steele 10 Greig Tonks 11 Topsy Ojo 12 Johnny Williams 13 Ciaran Hearn 14 Alex Lewington 15 Sean Maitland
16 Gerard Ellis 17 Tom Court 18 Leo Halavatau 19 Will Lloyd 20 Joe Trayfoot 21 Darren Allinson 22 Theo Brophy-Clews 23 Fergus Mulchrone
SARACENS
1 Richard Barrington 2 Jared Saunders 3 Juan Figallo 4 Hayden Smith 5 Jim Hamilton 6 Michael Rhodes 7 Jacques Burger 8 Jackson Wray 9 Ben Spencer 10 Nils Mordt 11 Chris Wyles 12 Brad Barritt (capt.) 13 Marcelo Bosch 14 Mike Ellery 15 Alex Goode
16 David Porecki 17 Titi Lamositele 18 Petrus du Plessis 19 Alistair Hargreaves 20 Kelly Brown 21 Neil de Kock 22 Nick Tompkins 23 Ben Ransom
