London Irish will play Northampton at the Kassam Stadium in the English Cup semi-final on March 2nd in a repeat of last season's final and they are gradually returning to the form which made them so hard to beat a year ago.
Had Rotherham travelled to Reading a couple of months ago, they would on yesterday's form have had a more than reasonable chance of causing an upset.
However, London Irish went into yesterday's tie at the Madejski Stadium having won five of their previous six matches, including a league victory at Northampton, and their ability to retain possession against an organised and resolute defence and take play through a number of phases emphasised the difference between Premiership and First Division rugby.
Rotherham did not have many mistakes to exploit but they showed, as they had at Bristol in the previous round, an ability to think on their feet and take advantage of disorganisation.
Although Irish played most of the match on the front foot, the visitors provided most of the better passages of play, including one which was started by a reverse pass from the scrumhalf Jacob Raulini and continued with a deft off-load at the point of contact by the prop, Nick Lloyd.
Rotherham went into yesterday's game unbeaten for 13 months and 34 matches but they rarely looked like extending that record against a side that had rediscovered itself.
The match slipped away from Rotherham late in the first half after two Irish indiscretions went unpunished. Irish were leading 11-3 when the outside-half Barry Everitt got away with a high tackle in his own 25.
Instead of being awarded a routine penalty Rotherham found themselves in their own half after losing possession. When Paul Sackey's forward pass to Naka Drotske went undetected, Michael Horak wriggled over the line despite the protests of the First Division champions that he had been held up short of the line and should have been penalised for not releasing.
Not that Irish needed any assistance. They were comfortably the better side throughout and they wrecked Rotherham's line-out, where Nick Kennedy again demonstrated his virtuosity in the middle.
The visitors had shown their mauling prowess in the early minutes but Kennedy kicked away their platform and Irish took control with two tries in the final 10 minutes of the opening half to lead 18-6 at the interval.
Rotherham enjoyed periods of territorial domination and they had the satisfaction of concluding the scoring when Matt Oliver was set free by Mike Schmid but their real battles lie on other fields.
They are now six points behind their rivals Worcester in the first division, though with two games in hand. Victory would have meant more of a fixture pile-up and they had proved their point at the Memorial Stadium earlier in the month.
"I think Rotherham would do well in the Premiership," said Conor O'Shea, Irish director of rugby.
"Of course a one-off match is different to having to perform week in, week out but they have a strong spine to their side. They were physical and their flanker Neil Spence effectively disrupted our possession."
London Irish's two second-half tries were trademark scores. The scrum-half, Hentie Martens, found the line open in front of him after play had been taken through 10 phases and Sackey then strolled over after Kennedy had claimed another lineout.
Guardian Service
LONDON IRISH: Mapletoft; Sackey, Burrows, Venter (Appleford, 64), Horak; Everitt, Martens (Barrett, 74); Worsley (Hatley, h-t), Drotske (Kirke, 46), Halford (Hardwick, 46), Casey (Delaney, 53), Kennedy, Gustard (capt), Danaher (Dawson, 56), Sheasby. Scorers: Tries: Drotske, Horak, Martens, Sackey. Cons: Everitt 2. Pen: Everitt. Drop goal: Everitt.
ROTHERHAM: Benson; Dixon, Oliver, Umaga (Cannon, 48), Wood (Ewens, 37); Pez, Raulini (Harrison, 61); Lloyd (Gravil, 67), Toews,, Noon, Cook, Kenworthy (Giacheri, 53), Greeff (Remnant, 61), Spence, Schmid (capt). Scorers: Try: Oliver. Pens: Pez 2.
Referee: T Spreadbury (Somerset).
Cup semi-finals draw
London Irish v Northampton Leicester v Gloucester Ties to be played on March 1st and 2nd.
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