Gold praises Exiles ‘courageous display’ as Bath slipped

LONDON IRISH head coach Gary Gold praised his side’s “courageous display” in their 16-15 win over Newcastle in their final home Zurich Premiership game of the season.

Gold said of the victory which keeps alive their hopes of a Heineken Cup wildcard play-off spot: “Our first half performance was possibly one of our worst this season and we knew we had to change things in the second half but it was a massively courageous display by us in that second half.”

In a fairytale debut, Matthew Tait scored with his first touch of the ball when he stepped Mike Horak before Stuart Grimes delivered a stunning reverse pass for Warren Britz to score.

Barry Everitt’s two penalties made it 12-6 at half-time and Dave Walder kicked a second half penalty to make it 15-6.

But the Falcons conceded a soft try with just four minutes of normal time left when Neil Hatley scrambled over and Mapletoft’s conversion made it 15-13.

With a minute to go, Grimes thundered down the right and Tom May just could not hold his pass with the line beckoning.

It proved a costly miss with Mapletoft kicking an 84th-minute penalty to give Irish the lead for the first time in the match and they hung on for an unlikely win.

Bath boss John Connolly admitted his team “just stopped playing” after they came spectacularly unstuck against Zurich Premiership rivals Harlequins at The Stoop.

Bath, 22-9 ahead at half-time, needed a maximum five points to guarantee top spot in the Premiership regular season.

That would have secured a place in the title play-off final at Twickenham on May 29, but they fell apart in the second period and collapsed to a 25-22 defeat.

The result means Bath will still finish top if they beat Recreation Ground visitors Gloucester next Saturday, but second-placed Wasps, who host Leicester, still have an excellent chance of clinching that Twickenham spot.

Bath will kick themselves all the way home to the west country. They looked to be home and dry, courtesy of a first minute penalty try and touchdowns from centre Robbie Fleck and fullback Matt Perry, but Quins recovered thanks to the combined goalkicking of Paul Burke and Andy Dunne before wing Simon Keogh grabbed a dramatic try in the eighth minute of injury-time.

“We spoke at half-time about not sitting back, but we were guilty of some poor kicking and some poor execution after that,” said Connolly.

“We gave Harlequins momentum. I am sure that at half-time they didn’t think they could win, but we just stopped playing and we didn’t get a lot of football.”

Bath star Mike Catt, who started on the bench is thought to be contemplating a one-year offer from London Irish, or a financially lucrative three-year stint playing club rugby in Japan.