Exiles tame Toulouse and reflect on what might have been

London Irish 32

Two tries from right-wing Paul Sackey and one from prop Mike Worsley, plus 17 points from the boot of flyhalf Barry Everitt, turned the European rugby form book inside out.

And although the winning margin was eventually only three points, Irish never relinquished their grip after taking the lead in the 15th minute.

But the joy of victory was tinged with feelings of what might have been, and left Irish deeply regretting squandering a 12-point lead in the closing 10 minutes at Edinburgh last weekend.

If they had won that match, they would now be heading to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals instead of being out of European competition for another year.

Defeat for Toulouse, winners of all their previous five group matches, meant that, instead of an all French class with Biarritz, they are now contemplating a home quarter final against Northampton.

Afterwards the Exiles' Conor O'Shea reflected on away defeats by Edinburgh and Newport in matches London Irish had every chance to win.

Irish squandered a 12-point lead in the closing 10 minutes at Edinburgh and would be heading into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals if they had won that match.

O'Shea said: "We threw it away in Edinburgh last week and totally dominated Newport so it's very disappointing."

Irish also lost 28-23 to Toulouse in France and O'Shea said: "We lost by five points in a game we could have won, four points in a game we should have won and then last week we just threw it away, we have got to be disappointed."

But overall O'Shea, who recently became managing director as well as director of rugby, was not too downhearted by his side's debut in the Heineken Cup.

He continued: "It was the first foray into Europe and we won our home games so we have to be proud of that."

On yesterday's performance, he had special mentions for centre Nick Burrows, chosen man-of-the-match, two-try wing Paul Sackey and full-back Mark Mapletoft.

O'Shea described Burrows as "unbelievable."

O'Shea is desperate to secure European rugby again next season. He added: "We will do everything we can to get back in, whether its through the cup, the play-offs or the league.

"There are several routes and we aim to carry the momentum from this victory forward to the end of the season and see what happens."

But, ahead of the Powergen Cup quarter-final against Division One Rotherham O'Shea added: "Now we need a better performance next week.

"If we sit back and think we've had a good win against a good Toulouse side we are coming straight off the rails but there are no thoughts of going out with anything but 100% commitment."

LONDON IRISH: Mapletoft, Sackey, Burrows, Venter, Barrett, Everitt, Martens, Worsley, Drotske, Hardwick, Delaney, Casey, Gustard, Dawson, Sheasby.

TOULOUSE: Jean-Jean, Ntamack, Desbrosse, Jauzion, Garbajosa, Michalak, Elissalde, Lecouls, Servat, Poux, Lamboley, Pelous, Brennan, F. Maka, Labit.

Referee: Ian Ramage (Scotland).