Skivington: My warriors rolled up their sleeves
LONDON IRISH GLOUCESTER 25 25
HEAD coach George Skivington praised Gloucester Rugby’s heroic defence after his side fought back to secure a draw at London Irish yesterday.
For most of the game the visitors were comfortably second best and trailed 14-0 and 17-6 at certain stages of the game, but hung in before launching a superb comeback which saw them score three tries in less than 15 minutes.
Ben Morgan scored two of them and Louis Rees-Zammit the other, with Adam Hastings kicking two penalties and two conversions.
Agustin Creevy, Isaac CurtisHarris and Matt Rogerson scored tries for Irish, with Paddy Jackson adding two conversions and two penalties.
Skivington said: “Irish came out firing and we were slow out of the blocks, being sloppy in conceding two early tries.
“We didn’t execute a five-metre line-out just before the interval and that summed up performance.
“We did just enough not to let it get totally away from us as our defence was heroic.
“We had warriors out there, with it being a day for rolling up your sleeves. Lewis Ludlow worked tirelessly throughout the game but cramped up towards the end.”
Wing Rees-Zammit’s 75-metre interception try put Gloucester in front for the first time but Rogerson’s late effort clawed the visitors back.
Skivington said: “We could have won the game and I’m disappointed that we didn’t close it out as we messed around in our 22. However,
our
first-half we will take a draw as Irish will be winning games soon. You’ve got to be on your toes against them as they are a big attacking threat.”
After three defeats and a draw, Irish missed a golden opportunity to pick up their first win of the season but failed to capitalise on their total dominance in the first half, being only eight points ahead at the halftime interval when it should have been nearer 20.
Director of rugby Declan Kidney said: “There is no doubt that we had plenty of opportunities and if we had taken them we would have won the match.
“We dominated for long periods of time, so the dressing room is disappointed and frustrated by the result.
“We needed to be smarter on one or two occasions but we’ll take credit for fighting back after giving Gloucester the upper hand.
“We are at Sandy Park (against Exeter) next week and we have nothing to lose down there as they will have all their internationals back, but we need to improve ourselves.”
London Irish: Parton; Loader, Rona, Hepetema, HassellCollins; Jackson, Phipps; Dell, Creevy, van der Merwe,
Mafi, Simmons, Rogerson, Curtis-Harris, Tuisue, Donnell. Replacements: Janse Van Rensburg for Hepetema (76), White for Phipps (60), Goodrick-Clarke for Dell (52), Cornish for Creevy (61), Hoskins for van der Merwe (56), Nott for Simmons (76), Donnell for Curtis-Harris (52), Jennings for Donnell (76).
Scorers – Tries: Creevy, Curtis-Harris, Rogerson. Cons: Jackson 2. Pens: Jackson 2.
Sin Bin: Mafi (47).
Gloucester: Carreras; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Atkinson, May; Hastings, Meehan; Rapava Ruskin, Singleton, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow, B Morgan. Replacements: Twelvetrees for Atkinson (72), Chapman for Meehan (72), Elrington for Rapava Ruskin (41), Socino for Singleton (17), Ford-Robinson for Gotovtsev (61), Thomas for Ludlow (72), Clement for B Morgan (76). Not Used: Moyle.
Scorers – Tries: B Morgan 2, Rees-Zammit. Cons: Hastings 2. Pens: Hastings 2.
Sin Bin: Atkinson (41).
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU).