Tom Coventry Post Match Review Tigers

London Irish Head Coach, Tom Coventry, admitted his London Irish side were not clinical enough to beat Leicester Tigers on Sunday.

Playing their first match of the season at Madejski Stadium, London Irish went down 16-28 to the Midlands outfit with a score line that certainly flattered the visitors.

Chris Noakes kicked 11 points to go with Jebb Sinclair’s first half try, but it was the boot of Tigers fly half Tommy Bell that was ultimately the difference as he booted 23 points to go with Peter Betham’s first half interception try.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Coventry alluded to the difference between winning and losing the match.

“It would have been nice to win our first match of the season at home but we weren’t clinical enough in the right areas of the game at vital times and we let ourselves down there.”

The lack of clinical edge was mainly down to unusual number of handling errors.

“We had 19 handling errors which was far too high and a lack of game management at various times  which was too sloppy, unforced errors which have been uncharacteristic so far during pre-season, which we will need to work on.

“There was however a lot of good stuff, we were only a couple of scores away from getting in front, we dropped one just before half time and Eoin Griffin was held up over the line, another step and he may have got the ball down. It might have been a different result if we got those over the line.”

The work of the forward pack was particularly pleasing for Coventry, especially his side’s work at the driving maul.

“That was a pleasing aspect of the game, those moments when you are five metres out from the line and you need to score, you need to take those opportunities and we did that pretty well, so that is a positive we can take into next week.”  

Tom Coventry’s team head to Sandy Park next Saturday where they will face Exeter Chiefs. Irish are back at Madejski Stadium on Saturday 7^th November for the visit of Bath Rugby. Tickets are available now by clicking here or by calling the ticket office on 01189 681 016.