DESPITE Sunday’s ‘dreadfully disappointing’ European Challenge Cup exit London Irish’s Interim Head Coach Glenn Delaney believes the club can prosper in the future.
Sale Sharks visit the Madejski Stadium for an Aviva Premiership clash on Sunday and Delaney wants London Irish to maintain their much improved form.
“Since Christmas we are one of the form teams in the Premiership and the statistics back this up,” Delaney told The Irish Post on Monday.
“It was dreadfully disappointing for us to be beaten by Edinburgh on Sunday – we felt that we could win the game despite our poor start.
“We were camped on their line at the end- we had a chance to win it, I felt we were in good shape putting them under pressure, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
“What encourages us, though, is that our league form since Christmas has been top six form. We are in the top six attacks since Christmas, and top four defences.
“The guys are buying into what we are trying to do by establishing a solid platform for the club to improve upon in future years.
“The Edinburgh game gave everybody at the club a taste of play/off rugby for the first time in six years. It is a pity we didn’t get the win because we felt that we could do it.”
Having leaked 16 points without reply early on the Exiles responded, but Delaney felt London Irish just weren’t clinical enough.
“The start we had certainly put us in a tight spot and we were under pressure. We weren’t accurate at the start of the game, but once we settled we improved hugely.
“When we scored 18 unanswered points ourselves I felt we were in a very good position. At that stage I thought we would go on to win.
“Edinburgh were very stressed – they were stopping us by whatever means necessary and unfortunately we just couldn’t put enough points on the board when we were on top.
“That was the difference for me. They took a chance they got and they defended for the remainder of the contest.
“It was disappointing because we played some excellent rugby getting back into the game Scott Steele and Shane Geraghty made some great breaks.
“Our offloading was excellent and it was one of our best attacking displays of the season. Overall it was bitterly disappointing for us to get beaten especially in the circumstances.
“Maybe it wouldn’t have felt as bad if we weren’t flat out on their line at the end, but to go out of the competition was unfortunate.”
It was a disappointing Sunday evening for London Irish. Photo: INPHO.Now Delaney wants London Irish to conclude the domestic campaign with similar attitude and application.
“We’ve been finishing games strongly. We need to continue to do that. Even in games we’ve lost we have been in the mix right up until the end.
“Edinbugh conceded a huge amount of penalties – they were fairly stressed. We need to constantly improve that is what we are about.
“Winning and losing happens in rugby, but for us at the moment the process is huge. We are optimistic about the future because we have played particularly well over the past few months. We need to keep doing that until the end of the season.
“If we can keep doing that we can climb the table. We are taking real pride in the way we are performing and we want to take points in our remaining matches.”
