LONDON Irish suffered a 22-19 defeat against Gloucester in the Premiership at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday afternoon, despite out scoring the visitors three tries to one.

The game started brightly for the home side as they scored in the second minute, this followed a fumble by Huia Edmonds, which gave the Exiles a scrum 10 metres out.

From this Ian Humphreys found Fergus Mulchrone, who went over for a try. Humphreys converted which gave the home side a 7-0 lead.

That was as good as it got for Irish, as they were pinned in their own 22 and forced to play from the deep.

Gloucester’s fly-half Billy Twelvetrees had an excellent first half with his kicking game.
As well as playing the corners, he kicked over two penalties to cut the lead to one point after 20 minutes.

The visitors then scored their only try from Jonny May, after a mistake from the home side as James O’Connor lost the ball, and from the turn over Twelvetrees fed May. Twelvetrees added the extras which gave Gloucester a 13-7 ahead.

Twelvetrees kicked his third penalty on first half to extend the lead at the break. Irish were a different side after the interval, as they worked hard in defence, limiting

Gloucester to very few scoring opportunities.
The visitors’ Twelvetrees added another penalty after the interval, but the home side hit back on 56 minutes, as they scored their second try of the game.

The move started as O’Connor passed the ball to Eamonn Sheridan on the touchline and he powered his way in.

Gloucester moved the score to 22-12, as Freddie Burns kicked over their fifth penalty of the game.

The home side hit back again, as Sheridan scored his second try of the match as he bundled over

Shane Geraghty’s kicked over the conversion to narrow the gap to just three points.
The home side’s fly-half had the chance to level the game with a penalty attempt from 40
metres out, but it fell short as Gloucester held on for the win.

London Irish host Worcester Warriors at Madejski Stadium on Saturday in a crunch Premiership encounter.