Gloucester beat Exiles in humdinger

Try for Gloucester: Ben Morgan

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Teams

• Gloucester
• London Irish

Also see

• Bath down Wasps
• Sarries beat Sale
• Five-try win for Leicester

Gloucester got their first win of the Premiership season thanks to a 41-30 victory over London Irish at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

The opposing teams scored three tries apiece but Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns kicked 25 points to see his side home.

Two late tries from James Simpson-Daniel and Akapusi Qera saw Gloucester claim the spoils in a topsy-turvy encounter.

The Cherry and Whites, looking to bounce back from a home defeat by Northampton Saints, led 16-14 at the break.

Burns scored three penalties and added the extras to Ben Morgan's try, while Irish's response came through the boot of Steve Shingler and Topsy Ojo's touchdown.

Burns continued his fine form with the boot kicking four more three-pointers, but it was ultimately Simpson-Daniel and Qera's interventions which secured their first win of the campaign.

The Exiles had taken the lead late in the second period through another Shingler penalty after Halani Aulika and Tomas O'Leary had touched down, but it wasn't enough.

Having themselves fallen to a demoralising 40-3 loss to Saracens on the first day of the season, the hosts were also looking to record their first victory.

And they got to the perfect start with a penalty from Shingler, but Burns levelled matters before the home side's fly-halfd regained their advantage.

Ojo's try then extended Irish's lead to 11-3, but the visitors mounted a comeback with two further three-pointers from their fly-half reducing the arrears.

Shingler kicked another from the tee, however, Gloucester took the lead a minute before half-time when Morgan powered over for a converted score.

The second period continued with the same see-saw nature. Although Burns' fourth three-pointer opened the gap to five points, Aulika's touchdown saw the Exiles ahead.

Once again, the visiting 10 took his side into the lead before O'Leary crossed the whitewash for what seemed to be the decisive try.

And despite Burns levelling the match with successive penalties, Shingler made the score 31-28 with just 12 minutes to go. But Simpson-Daniel and Qera went over late on to seal a remarkable victory.

The scorers:

For London Irish:
Tries: Ojo, 'Aulika, O'Leary
Cons: Shingler
Pens: Shingler

For Gloucester:
Tries: Morgan, Simpson-Daniel, Qera
Cons: Burns 2
Pens: Burns 7

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Steve Shingler, 9 Tomás O'Leary, 8 Jon Fisher, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 Declan Danaher (c), 5 Bryn Evans, 4 George Skivington, 3 Leo Halavatau, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Max Lahiff.
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney, 17 Halani Aulika, 18 John Ryan, 19 Kieran Low, 20 Alex Gray, 21 Anthony Watson, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Jack Moates.

Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Tom Savage, 5 Jim Hamilton (c), 4 Will James, 3 Shaun Knight, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Sione Kalamafoni, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Mike Tindall, 23 Martyn Thomas.

Venue: Madejski Stadium
Referee: Greg Garner