Tuala scores stunning try as Saints bag bonus-point win at Irish
After an extremely sloppy first half, during which Saints wasted a plethora of opportunities in the Irish 22, the away side finally got their game going.
Tom Collins breathed life into the black, green and gold with a fantastic finish, kicking ahead before racing forward to dive on the ball for the score.
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Hide AdThat seemed to knock the stuffing out of Irish, who were suddenly submerged in their own 22.
And after skipper Lewis Ludlam was just bundled into touch at the last, Saints started to really ramp up the pressure.
Mike Haywood was denied a try, but replacement prop Sekope Kepu was yellow carded for his part in that, with referee Ian Tempest awarding a penalty try.
And another one came with 12 minutes to go following a series of dominant Saints scrums in home territory.
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Hide AdIrish prop Will Goodrick-Clarke was yellow carded, with Saints feeling they should have been awarded the penalty try far earlier.
As it was, it cut down their time to bag the crucial fourth try, but they had just enough seconds to secure the maximum haul as James Grayson found Tuala, who finished in sensational style.
It is the first win of the Gallagher Premiership restart for Saints, who had lost 34-21 at home to Wasps six days earlier.
Chris Boyd's side tried to come out of the blocks quickly at The Stoop, playing with plenty of fizz early on, but Irish were able to shut down any avenues and managed to respond.
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Hide AdThe hosts were finding favour with referee Tempest, winning three early penalties in the Saints half.
But Saints stayed strong and Nick Isiekwe, on debut, showed his class as they won the turnover to relieve the pressure after Irish had twice kicked to the corner.
Isiekwe soon did more good work in the Irish half, helping to win a penalty that Grayson landed to give his side the lead.
But Saints were struggling to put things together in the Irish half and they should have been behind on 23 minutes as Ollie Hassell-Collins raced away down the left before failing with a seemingly simple pass inside.
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Hide AdAt the other end, the errors were flowing with Saints continually failing to find their man, especially with big lineout chances in the Irish 22.
It was getting more and more frustrating for the men in grey as they frequently wasted fantastic attacking opportunities in the Irish 22.
And Irish rubbed salt in the wounds on the stroke of half-time as fly-half Paddy Jackson notched a simple penalty to level the scores.
Boyd was already on his way to the dressing room while Jackson was lining up the kick, with the Saints boss ready to have his say after a stuttering half from his side.
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Hide AdAnd whatever was said seemed to have the desired effect as Saints started to move the ball with more fluency.
Eventually, it was worked wide and Collins finished with aplomb, kicking ahead before using his speed to get to the ball and dive on it.
Grayson missed the conversion to leave Saints 8-3 up, but they thought they had scored again soon after as Ludlam went over in the corner.
But Ludlam had been bundled into touch, following a move that was started by a scything break from Alex Mitchell.
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Hide AdSaints were still camped in Irish territory though as the hosts continually infringed, but they were proving a stubborn obstacle to shift through the maul and in open play.
However, finally the home side cracked.
Haywood couldn't quite get the ball down from another dominant maul, but the referee and TMO worked together to spot Kepu tackling the maul in the act of scoring and the Irish replacement prop was yellow carded before a penalty try was awarded.
It was all Saints, with Irish continually giving away penalties, and they were submerged at the scrum in front of their own posts.
Penalty after penalty came with Tempest finally going to his pocked to sin bin Goodrick-Clarke.
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Hide AdAnd one scrum later, a penalty try finally arrived. Though it really should have come earlier.
Saints had 12 minutes to find a try bonus point that had looked so unlikely with the scores level at 3-3 at half-time.
And it still looked unlikely with seconds of the match remaining before Tuala produced something very special, flying down the right wing and scoring acrobatically in the corner.
Grayson missed the conversion, but it didn't matter as Saints secured the five points they desperately wanted at The Stoop.
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Hide AdLondon Irish: Homer; Loader (Atkins 40), Williams, Brophy Clews (Neal 36), Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Meehan (Phipps 50); Dell (Goodrick-Clarke), Cornish (Matu'u 50), Hoskins (Kepu 50); Nott, de Chaves (Donnell 50); Cooke, Cowan (c), Tuisue.
Saints: Furbank; Olowofela (Tuala 56), Proctor, Hutchinson (Bird-Tulloch 73), Collins; Grayson, Mitchell (James 69); van Wyk (Hobbs-Awoyemi 50), Haywood (Marshall 60), Hill (Painter 61); Moon, Isiekwe; Gibson (Uru 73), Ludlam (c), Adendorff (Bean 63).
Referee: Ian Tempest