Winless London Irish still living off bonus points as Gloucester snatch draw
London Irish missed a golden opportunity to pick up their first victory of the season as they dominated Gloucester for most of the match but the visitors dug in to come away with an undeserved 25-25 draw.
Irish had not managed a win in their opening four matches but their first-half efforts should have ensured they were out of sight at the interval. As it was they were only eight points ahead and the visitors were able to stage a comeback.
Gloucester scored 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 Curtis-Harris and Matt Rogerson scored tries for Irish, with Paddy Jackson adding two conversions and two penalties.
Lewis Ludlow led out Gloucester on his 150th appearance for the club but the hosts had much the better of the opening period to deservedly take a 12th-minute lead.
Irish exerted huge pressure on the visitors’ line and eventually a stubborn defence cracked when Creevy forced his way over from close range.
The home side should have scored again shortly afterwards. Gloucester forwards Jack Singleton and Matias Alemanno were both receiving treatment when Rob Simmonds burst through the opposition ranks only for Jackson to carelessly throw forward the scoring pass to Ben Loader.
Singleton departed for an assessment before Irish bagged their second try when Curtis-Harris brushed aside a weak tackle from Val Rapava-Ruskin to score.
With their first excursion into the opposition 22 in the 23rd minute, Gloucester picked up their first points with a simple penalty from Hastings with the fly-half soon adding another.
Irish then resumed their dominance of a one-sided first half but they could not add to their tally so the visitors were extremely fortunate to be only 14-6 adrift at the interval.
There was early drama in the second half as Curtis Rona seized on a loose ball and set sail for the line. The centre was tip-tackled by Freddie Clarke but Mark Atkinson dived in to prevent a recycle. Atkinson was promptly sin-binned, with Jackson kicking the resulting penalty.
Gloucester’s woes continued when replacement prop Harry Elrington – the former Irish player – was forced to leave the field with an injury, with Rapava-Ruskin returning to replace him.
Irish lock Steve Mafi received a yellow card for dragging down a maul and Gloucester immediately capitalised when Morgan finished off a line-out drive before Jackson succeeded with a superb strike from inside his own half.
Atkinson returned from the bin in time to see his side score their second try – a replica of the first and again scored by Morgan.
Irish looked in trouble when Rees-Zammit picked off a pass from Irish scrum-half Nick Phipps to run 75 metres and score, but Irish drew level when Rogerson forced his way over after an elusive run from Ollie Hassell-Collins, with Jackson’s touchline conversion crucially sailing wide.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments