Declan Kidney’s first game in charge of London Irish ended in defeat after a thrilling contest against Gloucester.
A bumper crowd of over 15,000 packed into Madejski Stadium as the new era under Kidney coincided with the annual St Patrick’s Party and it looked as though they could be treated to just a third league win of the campaign.
REACTION: Declan Kidney says Irish need to learn how to close out games
Seeking a fourth straight St Patrick’s victory, Exiles came flying out of the traps with tries from Josh McNally and Piet van Zyl helping to open up a 17-0 lead inside the first 20 minutes.
But by half-time Gloucester were 19-17 in front after an astonishing Irish collapse.
The visitors kept the momentum after the restart to push 33-17 clear before tries from
Theo Brophy Clews and Joe Cokanasiga set up a grandstand finale with the arrears reduced to 33-29.
But Gloucester managed the clock well to close out the victory and push Irish closer to relegation.
Kidney made two changes to the side which lost at Wasps in Nick Kennedy’s final game in charge back on March 3 with fit again McNally and Theo Brophy Clews coming in for Teofilo Paulo and Greig Tonks.
And the hosts got off to a superb start, keeping possession for five minutes before eventually forcing a penalty which James Marshall kicked over.
The pressure kept coming with the first try of the afternoon soon following. Alex Lewington’s kick through was collected by Gloucester but a charging Cokanasiga forced him back to set up a line-out.
While Irish could not immediately force their way over the line, they protected the ball before McNally burst through to mark his comeback in style.
It was all London Irish and they duly bagged their second try of the afternoon before the 20-minute mark when a line-out drive found van Zyl to dart through a gap and score. Marshall’s extras extended the lead to 17-0.
And it almost got even better for the hosts with another break into the Gloucester 22, but the ball was knocked on at the vital moment.
That seemed to spur the visitors on as they soon embarked on an eight-minute blitz which completely swung the contest in their favour.
It began when an Irish line-out on halfway was lost, allowing Gloucester to break forwards with James Hanson eventually crashing over between the posts.
Tom Marshall was the next to score and with the Exiles defence all at sea, the Cherry and Whites grabbed a third try in quick succession with Lewis Ludlow dabbing down in the corner as one of three men unmarked on the flank.
The momentum continued after the restart with an untimely knock-on the only thing preventing a further score with Ludlow breaking clear in front of the posts.
The TMO was then called in to rule out a Gloucester try when Marshall went over, but an obstruction was spotted in the build-up.
Irish quickly broke forwards to try and get their noses back in front with van Zyl breaking
beyond the defence, but he was hauled back 10 metres from the line.
The visitors soon got back on the front foot and Kidney’s men had no answer when Mark Atkinson waltzed across the whitewash before Marshall acrobatically dove in at the corner. Billy Burns’ brilliant conversion gave Gloucester a 33-17 advantage heading into the final 20 minutes.
But Irish would not go down without a fight, sparking hopes of an unlikely revival when Brophy Clews showed good feet to ride two challenges before stretching across the line to the delight of roaring crowd.
The hosts soon had another opportunity to build some pressure with a line-out five metres out, but Seb De Chaves knocked on as he looked to gather high in the air.
However, the momentum was all with the Exiles and they did set up the grandstand finale when Cokanasiga burst through numerous Gloucester challenges to score in the corner and the reduce the deficit to just four points with seven minutes to play.
While Brophy Clews’ try gave Irish a chance of the comeback, his defensive work kept the game alive in the closing minutes with a huge tackle to stop a certain Gloucester score.
But Irish could not find a way to retrieve possession, allowing the visitors to run down the clock and close out the narrow win.
Despite defeat, Irish did pick up two bonus points to move to within 10 points of second-bottom Worcester Warriors but now with only four games to play.
LONDON IRISH: J. Marshall, Cokanasiga, Fowlie, J. Williams, Lewington, Brophy Clews, van Zyl, Franks, Paice, Hoskins, van der Merwe (c), McNally, Botha, Gilsenan, Treviranus.
Reps: Porecki, Elrington, du Plessis, De Chaves, Schatz, Steele, Bell, Tikoirotuma.
Tries: McNally (10), van Zyl (18), Brophy Clews (65), Cokanasiga (72)
Cons: Marshall x2 (11,19), Bell (66)
Pens: Marshall (5)
GLOUCESTER: Woodward, Sharples, Trinder (Twelvetrees 49), Atkinson, T. Marshall, Burns (Twelvetrees 23-34), Heinz (c), Hohneck (Rapava Ruskin 63), Hanson (Matu’u 60), Afoa, Savage, Galarza (Thrush 66), Polledri, Ludlow, Ackermann.
Reps: Denman, Thrush, Clarke, Braley, Hudson.
Tries: Hanson (27), T. Marshall x2 (32,56), Ludlow (35), Atkinson (53)
Cons: Twelvetrees x2 (28,33), Burns (54,57)
Scoring sequence (Irish first): 3-0, 8-0, 10-0, 15-0, 17-0, 17-5, 17-7, 17-12, 17-14, 17-19, 17-26, 17-31, 17-33, 22-33, 24-33, 29-33.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Attendance: 15,274
