Booth - Draw was a step forward

Sportsdesk • Published 22 Feb 2010 09:00 0 Comments

Newcastle Falcons 12, London Irish 12

LONDON Irish RFC head coach Toby Booth is hopeful his struggling side have turned the corner despite slipping out of the play-off places this weekend.

The Exiles slipped down to fifth in the league table after throwing away a 12-point lead as they were held to a 12-12 draw at Newcastle Falcons on Saturday evening.

Last season's Premiership finalists have now gone seven weeks without a win in any competition. But Booth is confident a win is just around the corner.

He said: "There was a lot of effort out there. We worked hard and we had trained exceptionally well and two points away from home could be crucial.

"Hopefully that's the u-turn that takes us back up the profile as it was pretty lonely last week, being beaten by 13 points.

"Newcastle will make it difficult for teams coming here and I hope they do.

"Hopefully we are back on the right road, and if we can tighten up a few bits and pieces we will soon be back on the winning trail."

Irish welcomed back England Elite squad members Steffon Armitage and Paul Hodgson to their starting lineup and this looked to be just the boost they needed as they raced into a commanding first half lead.

After a fairly low-key start to the match, Seilala Mapusua and Peter Hewat combined after 23 minutes to win Irish an attacking lineout deep in Falcons' territory.

And from the resulting set-piece Samoan back row George Stowers powered over for the opening try to give the Exiles a 5-0 lead.

Just three minutes later fellow back row Armitage celebrated his return to the Exiles team with a second try from close range as Irish looked set to run riot.

Tom Homer added the conversion to put Irish 12-0 to the good. And it this stage they looked set to go on to win at a canter.

However, Falcons fly half Jimmy Gopperth had other ideas. He landed a 37th minute penalty to give his side a lifeline just before the break.

And then in the second half he landed three more successful kicks to bring his side level.

The hosts finished the game in the ascendancy and could have stolen the win when Alex Tait touched down late on. But the try was rightly chalked off for a forward pass.

On reflection Booth admitted a draw was probably the right result.

He said: "It was probably a fair result as we were dominant for one half and so were they.

"We had upper hand line-out wise and they had the upper hand scrum wise and it often goes like that. The disappointing thing for us is we let go a 12-0 lead, but you have to give people credit for that.

"The conditions were very tough out there, the pitch isn't great and they won the kicking game in the second half and we couldn't get out.

"You need to have a good platform and that helps your kicking game and it wavered a bit due to the pressure we were under, you have to give Newcastle credit for that."

Next up for the Exiles is a home clash with bitter rivals Harlequins, who won 16-13 when they travelled to the Madejski Stadium in the Anglo-Welsh Cup at the end of last month.

Quins travel to Reading on the back of a morale-boosting win over high-flying Northampton Saints last weekend.

Kick off on Sunday is 3pm.

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