Premiership: Les Kiss believes record crowd powered London Irish to comeback win

London Irish head coach Les Kiss was ecstatic that his side managed a brilliant 18-14 come-from-behind victory against Exeter in front of a packed home crowd.

Two converted tries from the visitors had Irish 14-0 down after the first quarter but two penalties and a James Stokes try on the brink of half-time completed the comeback, giving the record 11,555 crowd at the Brentford Community Stadium something to shout about.

Kiss believes the fans were a crucial motivation in being able to dig deep and respond against a good Exeter side.

Excited for the game

“The boys were really excited about this game in the week leading up to it because we missed the Bath game,” said Kiss.

“We knew there was going to be about 10,000 fans down here watching us play today – so it was nice to be able to give them something to cheer about.

“Fair play to the players who kept working hard at it. To go 14-0 down, and then come back and do that is a pretty good effort.

“I thought both teams showed a lot of character today, particularly in the second half where the defence was awesome on both sides.”

Although no points were scored after the interval, both sides went close on numerous occasions only for some brilliant last-ditch defending.

Kiss was particularly pleased with his side’s character, not only to produce a comeback, but then to deny a strong Chiefs attack after the break.

He added: “It (the second half) wasn’t good for the heart as we all know.

“But overall, there were a lot of players that came up with real big physical efforts towards the end. Tom Pearson was immense, as was Rob Simmons.

“We knew they were going to come back out at us, and both teams threw everything at each other. Thankfully we had done enough. The character really came through.”

Chiefs winger Tom O’Flaherty was at a loss as to why his team failed to break down the resilient Irish after falling behind in the Premiership clash.

He said that his team let themselves down in a crazy 18-minute spell where they blew a 14-point lead.

“We started the game really well and had periods of complete and utter dominance right at the start of the match,” O’Flaherty said.

“But then we really let ourselves down towards the second part of the first half.

“We fought back well in the second half, but ultimately we were not penetrating enough against them.

“It is too difficult to say right now, straight after the game, what the reasons are for that.

“We need to take a good look at the footage when we get back into training again on Monday morning.”

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