Ker-Pau! Irish storm into Shield semis
January 26, 2002

London Irish, already in the semi-finals of the Powergen Cup, made it into the last four of the Parker Pen Shield as well with a convincing 38-9 win over Pau.

The Exiles are now only two steps from an automatic ticket into the Heineken Cup next season as winners of the Shield.

Barry Everitt kicked four penalties in the first half to set the scene, and when he failed to turn out after the interval, James Brown took over where he left off, kicking three penalties, a dropped goal and two conversions.

Pau, who won the title two seasons ago, lost their composure as the points mounted and Scottish referee Rob Dickson, who had earlier sin-binned a player from each side, sent off replacement lock Guillaume Chasserieau for a punch with six minutes to go.

By that time Exiles wing Paul Sackey had scored a memorable try and prop Mike Worsley ran in from 12 metres to round off a great night's work for the Irish as they joined Sale Sharks and Gloucester in the semi-final draw.

London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea paid tribute to Sackey. "Paul is the ultimate game breaker - give him half an inch, he takes a mile. His ability to make something out of nothing is fantastic."

And he added: "We've got ourselves a nice little problem to deal with now because we are still involved in three competitions.

"To come over here and win is magnificent. The game got more and more physical and there was a lot of passion about the place. We are going to lick our wounds over the next few weeks, try to get a bit more depth in our squad and get ready for a mighty away trip to Gloucester in the league."

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