'You can blame the referee... but he didn't make half as many mistakes as us'

Worcester Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond has refused to blame the referee after his side fell to resounding London Irish, who moved into the top four of the Gallagher Premiership with the 43-12 win.

Agustin Creevy crossed for two of Irish’s seven tries, but a red card to Warriors winger Duhan Van Der Merwe in the second half made it a foregone conclusion.

Due to results elsewhere, Warriors are now bottom of the table, and head coach Steve Diamond had no excuses.

Le French Rugby Podcast – Episode 19

Le French Rugby Podcast – Episode 19

“I am disappointed really,” he said. “I thought we had grown over the last two or three weeks and I think today our discipline let us down and our work-rate let us down.

“The red card doesn’t help, the referee can only adjudge what the laws of the game are. It was probably a harsh red, but definitely a yellow. I don’t think that really was the difference in the teams. I think it was done and dusted just before and just after half-time – a try before the break and a try straight after.

“You can blame the referee however much you want, but the referee didn’t make half as many mistakes as we did.

“I know where we’re at in certain positions, and the jury is out with three or four others at the moment and they are going to be difficult decisions, but I think they’ve got to be made.”

Declan Kidney is refusing to get carried away with the result or their place on the table.

London Irish are now unbeaten in four matches and have scored 27 points or more in each, but Kidney is keen to focus on the present – and not his side emerging as play-off contenders.

He said: “The first half was difficult because Worcester defended so well against us. We managed to take a few chances but we let them in just before half-time, which showed there was a real game in it.

“The card obviously had a bit to do with it, but we probably had a good patch in that third quarter that allowed us to pull away and then there was very much-needed game time for lads in the last quarter.

“We will have gained things out of today, but we will also have learned things out of today and that’s what we’ve tried to do in every match we’ve played.

“We’ll enjoy it today and on Monday we will be knuckling down again. I work with a fantastic set of coaches, they are working hard on the next month and they will come in with a plan for the next game.”

Irish were 24-5 ahead when Van Der Merwe was sent off for elbowing Kyle Rowe in the head, with Creevy powering over for his two scores and further tries for Lucio Cinti and Juan Martin Gonzalez.

Curtis Rona, Paddy Jackson and Ben White crossed after the Scotland winger’s dismissal, while Noah Heward scored two tries for Warriors.