Andrew frustrated as Exiles win

Rob Andrew criticised his Newcastle side for failing to kill off London Irish and questioned refereeing standards after his team’s 21-16 Zurich Premiership defeat today.

He described referee Steve Lander’s award of an injury-time penalty before Irish’s winning try as “a big decision” and highlighted the failure to spot a knock-on by Irish scrum-half Paul Hodgson in the build-up to their opening try.

“What were the touch judges doing? He knocked on about five yards. These decisions are costing games. We don’t seem to be getting it right somehow,” he said.

“Players make mistakes as well, but it’s incredibly frustrating for all of us. They are having such an impact on the outcome of matches.

“They go out and make the same mistakes each week,” added a frustrated Andrew.

He acknowledged: “You can always have a go at the referee – it’s easy.

“That was only a small part of a game we should have won comfortably. We have only ourselves to blame. We were the better side.

“We have to learn how to close out games that we dominate. We should have been out of sight at half-time – and if you don’t take the chances to do that at this level it will come back to bite you.

“The players have to be a little bit more streetwise. We could have been 30 points clear at half time.”

There was mitigation nonetheless, according to Andrew who added: “We had a lot of top internationals missing, and they had one player out today.

“We are going to be a very good side. There is no question about that.”

London Irish head coach Gary Gold praised his side for battling to the end to secure their fifth successive victory, in Premiership and European competition.

“The boys knew it was going to be a very tough battle today, but we stuck to our guns,” he said.

“I thought it was a tremendous sign of their commitment to the cause. We lost our way a little bit but came again in the second half – and I can’t praise them too highly for their commitment.”