London Irish 19-25 Racing Metro
James Walker-Roberts • Published 17 Dec 2011 16:50
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LONDON Irish's Heineken Cup ambitions were dealt a major blow at the Madejski on Saturday as they suffered a disappointing defeat to Pool Two basement side Racing Metro.
The loss means that Irish will now need to pick up maximum points against Edinburgh and Cardiff Blues in their final two matches and also hope other results go their way if they are to qualify from the group.
Should they not progress, Toby Booth's men will no doubt look back at this encounter against previously winless Racing as one of the defining moments of their Heineken Cup adventure.
After storming back in the second half to win in Paris a week earlier, Exiles were expected to yet again get the better of their French opponents on home soil but they were unable to break down a resilient defence until the very last move of the match.
Tom Homer was Irish's top scorer with 14 points and the opening exchanges were punctuated by his penalties and man-of-the-match Jonathan Wisniewski's replies for Racing.
It was Wisniewski who ultimately had the better of an uninspiring first half, kicking three penalties and two drop goals to give the visitors a 15-12 lead at the interval.
The Racing fly-half added another drop goal early in the second half before the French side's dominant start to the period was rewarded with a breakaway try from Sireli Bobo.
The successful conversion opened a 13-point lead for Racing but they were forced on to the backfoot when Wisniewski was sin-binned for a deliberate knock down.
Despite their numerical advantage though, Irish were unable to break down the French side and could have fallen further behind were it not for a superb last-ditch tackle by Adam Thompstone on Virimi Vakatawa when the Fijian looked certain to score.
Exiles eventually managed to get a stranglehold on possession but were hampered close to the line by costly infringements and didn't manage to break through the Racing defence until David Paice scored with the final move of the match.
Homer kicked the extras to bag a losing point for Irish but they will need much more than that when the Heineken Cup resumes in mid-January if they are to make it out of Pool Two.
Up next for Exiles is a home match against Exeter Chiefs on December 27 (1.30pm ko).
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 17 Dec 11
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