London Irish assistant coach George Skivington spoke of what was a ‘pretty good all-round performance’ on Saturday against Bayonne where London Irish secured a bonus-point 45-31 victory at Madejski Stadium.

The win leaves Irish second in the pool on six points behind group leaders, Toulon. Irish face the French side back-to-back away and at home on the 7 and 14 December respectively.

Speaking after the game, Skivington said: “I thought it was a pretty good performance. From a forward point of view, they had a very big pack good set piece and we knew it would be hard work.

“The boys came out well at the start and we had a very dominant scrum which set the tone of how we wanted to play.”

The size of the French pack was immediately obvious when they arrived at the Madejski. The Top 14 side boast one of the heaviest forward packs in Europe.

“They had a huge pack and watching them in the warm-up, they had some real size to them. The boys fronted up though and certainly met the challenge head on which was important.”

The losing bonus-point gained at Parc Y Scarlets, coupled with five points from Saturday’s match, leaves the Exiles in a healthy position moving into rounds 3 & 4.

“We were disappointed with the Scarlets results, we felt we could have got more out of it. The boys gave everything, but I don’t think were as crisp as we wanted to be in certain areas, which is why it was important to come out against Bayonne and did everything we wanted, to get the points to leave us in a nice position on the pool.”

London Irish take on Toulon in Round 4 of the European Challenge Cup on Saturday 14 December. For tickets please click here.

 

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