Heroic Hastings Drop Goal Hands Gloucester Rugby the Win in Brentford
Agony at home for London Irish in round seven of the Gallagher Premiership as Gloucester Rugby took the 22-21 victory courtesy of a sublime drop goal from fly half Adam Hastings.
The hosts led for much of the game, going into half-time 18-12 with tries from Augstín Creevy and Ben Loader.
Gloucester managed to bring themselves onto the scoresheet with tries from Santiago Socino and Ruan Ackermann before the break.
A penalty from Paddy Jackson saw Irish score the first points of the second half, however, a second try from Socino and an unforgettable drop goal from Hastings inside Gloucester’s half sealed the win for the visitors.
Hastings, who was named in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series slotted an incredible long-range drop goal to give his side the lead and ultimately the win.
Worries arose for England approaching the Autumn Nations Series as wingers Jonny May and Henry Arundell both left the field injured in the first half.
May landed badly on his left arm following a competition for the ball in the air, while Arundell struggled with a previous injury to his right foot.
Arundell will still travel to Jersey with Eddie Jones’ squad next week, however, it is unlikely that May will be joining him.
London Irish started with intent at the Gtech Community Stadium. Early pressure on their victors led to hooker Creevy dotting down from the back of a driving maul three minutes into the game.
With the travelling fans in fine voice behind the posts, strong carries from Gloucester’s Giorgi Kveseladze and Ackermann allowed Hastings to release the pass for Socino to score his first of the game, diving over the whitewash on the blindside.
Gloucester were denied what would have been a superb try from a crossfield kick as Irish’s defence slid into action to beat May to the ball.
Irish were soon rewarded for their defensive efforts with Loader gathering the ball in the air from a pinpoint kick from Jackson.
Beating May in the air in the process, he powered himself through the tackle from Charlie Chapman and dotted down in the corner.
Gloucester went on to deliver from their trademark driving lineout, as Ackermann spotted a gap from the back and wrangled his way over the line.
The hosts lead 18-12 at the break in what proved to be yet another close game in the Gallagher Premiership, with one point ultimately separating the two sides.
After the break, a penalty kick from Paddy Jackson saw Irish extend their lead.
Gloucester were soon to reply as Socino went over for this second following another strong forward-pack effort in the driving lineout.
With nineteen minutes of the game remaining, Hastings delivered an outstanding drop goal from inside his own half which travelled for over 50 metres to take his side ahead.
The game was fought until the end by both sides with the final few minutes providing intense viewing for both sets of fans.
A Gloucester penalty ultimately ended the game, with a result that saw them finish third in the table at the end of round seven.
London Irish drop down to the bottom of the table and face local London rivals Harlequins in their next fixture.
Gloucester head coach George Skivington praised fly-half Hasting’s kicking recently and his drop goal.
“He’s brilliant. His boot has been really good for us at the start of the season, he’s worked very hard.”
He also went on to discuss the half-time conversations which made an impact in the second half.
“Discipline towards the end was brilliant. We had to address a few things at half-time about the way things were going for or against us and let’s correct them and let’s be smart. I thought the boys did that against a very tough team to beat,” he said.
The work rate of a recent addition to Eddie Jones’s England squad, Gloucester front row Val Rapava-Ruskin, alongside the squad’s coaching team was also commended by Skivington.
“Credit to him, he’s worked unbelievably hard, and we’ve worked unbelievably hard on him as well. On everything, fitness wise, decision wise, scrummaging wise. Trevor Woodman has done a great job on his scrum.
Val has owned it, he’s embraced it, we’ve pushed him very, very hard and him getting selected for England is great for him but it’s great for the programme as well, strength and conditioning, medical, everyone who’s worked hard to get him to this spot.”
Declan Kidney, London Irish Director of Rugby was frustrated at the final whistle.
“These games are on little margins, and we’re in there, we don’t want to be a learning team all the time. We know that we can give credit to Gloucester for what they did well, and we’ll look at the bits we need to improve on to get ourselves over the line. We’re knocking on it, but you can knock away all you like, you have to actually push your way through it,” he said.
Teams:
London Irish:
15 Henry Arundell, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson (c), 9 Ben White, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o.
Replacements:
16 Isaac Miller, 17 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Will Joseph, 23 Tom Parton
Gloucester Rugby:
15. Santiago Carreras 14. Louis Rees-Zammit 13. Chris Harris 12. Giorgi Kveseladze 11. Jonny May 10. Adam Hastings 9. Charlie Chapman 1. Val Rapava-Ruskin 2. Santiago Socino 3. Fraser Balmain 4. Freddie Clarke 5. Matias Alemanno 6. Jordy Reid 7. Lewis Ludlow (c) 8. Ruan Ackermann
16. Jack Singleton 17. Harry Elrington 18. Ciaran Knight 19. Cam Jordan 20. Albert Tuisue 21. Stephen Varney 22. Jack Reeves 23. Lloyd Evans
