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'We weren't surprised' - Les Kiss reacts to Henry Arundell try to 'end all tries'

By PA
Les Kiss, Head Coach of London Irish looks on prior to the ECPR Challenge Cup Quarter Final match between RC Toulon and London Irish at Stade Mayol on May 08, 2022 in Toulon, France. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

London Irish head coach Les Kiss was not surprised by an astonishing individual try scored by teenager Henry Arundell in their 19-18 European Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Toulon.

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While the Exiles went out in agonising fashion, Arundell claimed the champagne moment with a try from just short of 100 metres that will be talked about for years to come.

The 19-year old received a pass just in front of his own try-line in the 75th minute before embarking on a swerving jet-heeled counter-attack that saw him cut through the entire Toulon team and go all the way to the right corner for the score.

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Had fly-half Paddy Jackson nailed the difficult touchline conversion Irish would have pinched the victory, but his effort sailed well wide.

Australian Kiss said of Arundell: “He makes people make defensive errors. He is a good lad, a level-headed lad.

“We weren’t surprised when that happened, we know what’s possible with him.

“For Henry, Will Joseph, Tom Pearson, Juan Gonzalez… there’s four young guys who have got a taste of European rugby in one of the toughest cauldrons. That’s great for us and it was great to see Henry do what he did today.”

Kiss rued errors “in the middle period” of a match which had seen the Exiles go into a 10-0 lead in as many minutes after a blistering start was rewarded with a pushover try by number eight Albert Tuisue.

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But while the visitors continued to frustrate the Stade Felix Mayol crowd with an organised and committed performance, they were unable to prevent Toulon from gradually gaining the upper hand.

A try from captain Charles Ollivon on the hour mark was crucial, with fly-half Louis Carbonel adding the rest of the hosts’ points with the boot.

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Irish were left to rue yellow cards for hooker Agustin Creevy and Gonzalez in the 36th and 50th minutes respectively, Creevy’s for pulling the hair of Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth and Gonzalez for a high tackle on Carbonel.

Kiss added: “We made a good start, probably the middle period we made too many errors. The penalty count was too high in that period and it put us on the back foot.

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“We tried to finish strongly, but we just couldn’t get there in the end.

“They are a tough team on their home turf and you have to give them credit. They got done what they needed to get done and squeezed us there at the end.

“There were a couple of things we could have done better but I was happy with the way we went at the game and attacked it.

“We just couldn’t hold their power out.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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