Booth - We will bounce back

Sportsdesk • Published 18 Jan 2010 09:00 0 Comments

Heineken Cup: Scarlets 31, Irish 22

LONDON Irish head coach Toby Booth remains defiant despite seeing his side's chances of reaching the last eight of the Heineken Cup left hanging by a thread following a disastrous second half capitulation against Scarlets on Sunday.

The Exiles looked to be cruising, leading 22-10 approaching the midpoint of the second half. But they took their eye off the ball and allowed their hosts to run in three unanswered tries as the Welsh side recorded an unlikely 31-22 win.

The fact that the Exiles did not even pick up a losing bonus point from the fixture leaves them in a perilous position in Pool Six with one game to go.

They now sit five points behind Leinster in second place, meaning they must not only beat the reigning champions at Twickenham on Saturday - they must score four tries and deny Leinster a losing bonus point.

It looks a tall order against Brian O'Driscoll and co, but Booth believes his side are up for the task.

He said: "Irrespective of the mathematics involved in the pool, any team that wants to be competitive in any competition has to bounce back from adversity.

"I have no problem getting this team up for big games. We have to prepare well for next weekend and try to heal some of the scars.

"We are bitterly disappointed, but the good thing about this team is it likes uphill challenges."

The Exiles got off to the perfect start when Tom Homer crashed over for the opening try after just three minutes.

But they were then given a warning of the Scarlets' attacking threat when Jonathon Davies finished off a slick break down the right wing. Rhys Priestland's conversion gave the hosts a 7-5 lead.

Normal service seemed to be resumed when Chris Hala'Ufia, who was excellent throughout for Irish, battered his way through the Scarlets' defence before offloading to hooker David Paice who bounced over for the visitors' second try.

Ryan Lamb and Priestland exchanged penalties as the Exiles went in at the break 15-10 to the good.

Just after the restart Irish extended their lead when Hala'Ufia, pictured, took advantage of a fortuitous bounce after a Peter Hewat up and under to run clear under the posts.

Lamb's conversion gave Irish a 22-10 lead and the question seemed to be not if Irish would win, but by how many.

Irish camped in the Scarlets' half for five minutes as the bonus-point fourth try looked imminent. But the next try came at the other end and it sparked the home side into life again.

Rob McCusker ran the ball home from 50 yards after a weak clearance from Lamb to get his side back in the game. And then with 12 minutes remaining the same player scored again following a clever flick by Deacon Manu. Priestland's kick put the Scarlets 24-22 in front and thereafter Irish rarely threatened the hosts' try-line.

Indeed it was the Scarlets who had the final word in the last minute when Davies spotted a gap to run through for his second try, which denied the Exiles a bonus point.

Booth said: "We knew it would be tough here, we knew the Scarlets would be passionate, but I do feel that a lot of what went on was our own doing.

"We are disappointed by the unforced error count. And at 22-10 we expect to close out the game."

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