Praise for Irish young guns

Sportsdesk • Published 17 Feb 2010 09:00 0 Comments

LONDON Irish head coach Toby Booth has singing the praises of two of his young guns this week.

The Exiles crumbled to one of their most disappointing defeats for some time 35-23 at home to Bath on Sunday.

However two of the undoubted highlights were the performances of England under-20s duo Tom Homer and James Gibson.

Homer took on the kicking responsibilities despite the presence Chris Malone, Peter Hewat and eventually Ryan Lamb on the pitch. And he did not disappoint with a metronomic display.

He kicked five out of six penalties on the day. And late on he scored and converted a try to finish the day with a personal points haul of 22 - all of the Exiles points.

Indeed the closest anyone else came to scoring was fellow 19-year old flanker Gibson, who was denied a try by the television match official after a powerful break.

Booth was very unhappy with the Irish display as a whole, but looked towards his two 19 year olds for a bit of consolation.

He said: "Both Tom and Jamie were fantastic.

"It was Jamie's first Premiership start and he looked like he belonged out there which bodes very well for the long term and for the short term as well.

"Tom's a fantastic player, we're very privileged to have him with us and he's got better and better.

"Last week he dominated the England under-20s and he's come out here and commanded the best performance of the afternoon, on either side, which given the score line shows the quality of the player."

Homer made his London Irish debut last season, marking his arrival on the scene with two tries against Saracens at the Madejski Stadium.

He went on to kick seven out of seven penalties as Irish beat Northampton in the St Patrick's Day match and starred for England in the under-20s World Championships.

Gibson is in his first year in the London Irish Academy.

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