The biggest victory in the Premiership this season came at Headingley in September when London Irish thrashed Leeds 56-7. The two sides meet again at the Madejski Stadium this afternoon but the landscape has changed. The Exiles looked an all-conquering force in the opening weeks of the season, even winning away to Leinster, the Heineken Cup holders, while Leeds looked destined for a quick return to the second tier.
Irish are one of three teams looking to clinch the final two play-off positions, assuming Leicester and Northampton will not be caught, while Leeds are no longer favourites to go down having beaten the title-chasing Wasps and Saracens.
Irish have been the nearly-men of the English game in recent years, reaching a Heineken Cup semi-final before losing to Leicester in last season's Premiership final at Twickenham. They lost their way as winter closed in, a mixture of injuries, the weather and the breakdown directive that made teams kick rather than run, blunting their cutting edge. When they won at Worcester last Saturday, it was their first away victory in the Premiership for more than four months.
"We are coming into our own again," says Paul Hodgson, Irish's England scrum-half. "We are a team that enjoys playing rugby and the brighter weather, together with the relaxation at the breakdown, has led to a more open game. People want to watch attacking rugby and to see a spectacle and that is what we are about as a club.
"We are in a good position as far as the play-offs go, but at this stage of the season you cannot afford to look beyond your next game. Leeds will be tough but we operate in a relaxed environment, which is all credit to Toby Booth and his coaches. There is something good about this club and we are always at our best when enjoyment is a factor."
If Irish do make the play-offs, and their final two games are at Gloucester and at home to Northampton, the chances are they will be away, as they were last year when they won 17-0 at Harlequins having finished third in the table.
"There is a lot of rugby to be played before the play-offs and there is no point in looking that far ahead," Hodgson says. "Every game is big at this stage and it is about achieving consistency. We are a tremendous squad of players and a top management set-up. We lack nothing in ambition and we are moving forward."
Irish have been unfortunate with injuries as Sailosi Tagicakibau, Delon Armitage, Topsy Ojo and Nick Kennedy have been out for long periods, while they lost Hodgson's half-back partner, Shane Geraghty, to Northampton last summer, a move that has yet to be vindicated on rugby grounds.
"There is no better club to be with than Irish," says Hodgson, who joined from Bristol in 2004. "I have improved as a player hugely in my time here and I would not want to be anywhere else. I have no thoughts about moving, but Shane had his reasons. I asked him not to go: he was playing superbly for us and he had Mike Catt to guide him but he had his reasons and you have to respect the decision he made.
"He is having to fight for his place at Northampton and as a player you need to be pushed for your position. I have two international scrum-halves vying with me at Irish and that brings out the competitiveness in you. Shane has moved on and so have we: Ryan Lamb and Chris Malone are outstanding outside-halves. You cannot look back."
Hodgson, who has won nine caps, started the international season as a regular in England's match-day squad but by the end of the Six Nations he had dropped to third in the rankings behind Danny Care and Ben Youngs. "The ambition to play for England is still there and my aim is to make the summer tour to Australia," he says.
"It has been a tough year for England in terms of the criticism we have generated, but I see similarities with London Irish. Things did not happen for us as a club overnight. We had to work long and hard to get where we are and it is the same with England.
"We are on the right road. We have a strong team of players and coaches and the more we are involved together the better we will become. The national side is the pinnacle of the sport and you expect criticism, but we are not far away. We believe in ourselves."
