Irish win again but Kidney wants more

Exiles up to sixth in Premiership as Gloucester suffer seventh loss of the campaign

ON THE UP: Declan Kidney, the London Irish director of rugby. The Exiles are up to sixth in the Gallagher Premiership. Picture David Rogers, Getty Images

Premiership: London Irish 32 Gloucester 26.

A Blair Cowan double set the stage for London Irish as they squeaked past Gloucester 32-26 at the Brentford Community Stadium to move up to sixth in the Premiership.

It was a deserved victory for an Irish side which dominated possession, territory and chances.

Not that you'd know it from director of rugby Declan Kidney's reaction. Despite seeing his side move within a point of the top four, the 61-year-old is demanding the Exiles step their game up.

"Any time you get five points is a good result, and it's very important to enjoy the result on the day," Kidney said. "But again it's left us with an awful lot to work on, so any time we get five points and we've got an awful lot to work on, I'll take that.

"We know Gloucester play a good brand of rugby, they're very dangerous because they threaten you right across the park and so nothing in that surprised me it was just the way we defended, we know we can do better.

"That's what we're trying to do [have a good selection of tries], so we can keep the opposition guessing but, at the same time, it's important to get your basics right. Some of those things we were a bit short on today, but we have a bit of variety to our play at the moment."

Gloucester are still on the right track according to director of rugby George Skivington, despite suffering their seventh Premiership defeat of the season.

The visitors led at the break and scored four tries through Alex Craig's double, Henry Trinder and Mark Atkinson but ultimately ended up with just a losing bonus.

"We're making strides in the right direction and we're confident about the track we're on," he said.

"I was really impressed with the boys' attitude, they fought extremely hard whether it was going our way or against us, their attitude remained the same.

"Obviously we wanted to win the game and we put ourselves in a position where we could have won the game. But London Irish are a very good team.” London Irish: Tries: Cowan 2, Hassell-Collins, Creevy, Parton. Cons: Jackson 2. Pens: Jackson.

LONDON IRISH: Parton, Loader, Rona, Hepetema, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, Phipps, Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, Kepu, Simmons, Coleman, Rogerson, Cowan, Tuisue.

Replacements: Brophy-Clews for Loader (73), Meehan for Phipps (56), Dell for Goodrick-Clarke (56), Matu'u for Creevy (62), Chawatama for Kepu (34), Mafi for Coleman (2), O'Brien for Cowan (48), Donnell for Tuisue (73).

Gloucester: Tries: Trinder, Craig 2, Atkinson. Cons: Twelvetrees 3.

GLOUCESTER: Woodward, Carreras, Trinder, Atkinson, Thorley, Twelvetrees, Heinz, Ford-Robinson, Walker, Knight, Craig, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow, Ackermann.

Replacements: Kveseladze for Trinder (67), Chapman for Heinz (60), Seville for Ford-Robinson (60), Gleave for Walker (40), Balmain for Knight (47), Atkins for Alemanno (74), Clarke for Reid (40). Not Used: Moyle.

Referee: Ian Tempest (RFU)