Coach Toby Booth lead the tributes to Mike Catt after London Irish's 17-0 Guinness Premiership play-off triumph over Harlequins.
Exiles coach left to sweat on fitness of Kennedy
London Irish coach Toby Booth is hoping Mike Catt will decide to play on next season after helping to mastermind the Exiles' 17-0 Guinness Premiership play-off triumph over Harlequins.
Catt, 37, was eye-catching both in defence and attack as Irish booked a final date with Leicester with a convincing win at the Twickenham Stoop.
Catt has yet to decide what role he will fill at the Madejski Stadium next season, but Booth is hoping he opts to prolong his playing career.
"Mike Catt was absolutely outstanding," Booth declared. "Today (Saturday) was one of those games that Mike thrives on.
"The irony is he spent two days in bed with flu this week. We still started him because we know how important he is to controlling things.
"Catty has a fantastic appetite - people dream about being able to do what he does at 37.
"He's a credit to himself, his family and London Irish. I'll never ask him to stop playing.
"It's Mike's decision whether he will play next season. If push comes to shove I'm sure he'll put his hand up because that's the sort of guy he is.
"Mike loves the situation he's in and he'll make the decision over the course of the summer."
Catt and substitute James Hudson scored Irish's tries against Quins, while Delon Armitage kicked seven points as the Exiles ran out deserved winners following a dominant second-half display.
Strong foundations
"We've built on strong foundations that (predecessor) Brian Smith and I laid and have made steady progress," continued Booth.
"This has been one of those purple patch days. I thought we were resilient in the first 20 minutes and we showed some true quality.
"They didn't capitalise with their kicks and neither did we. Then the game began to swing in our favour.
"We made life difficult for ourselves but stood tall and matched their physicality."
Kennedy worry
The one sour note for Irish was the knee ligament injury sustained by England second row Nick Kennedy who is now a major doubt for the final.
"Nick looks like he has a ligament strain but we don't know the degree of that," Booth added.
"We're disappointed for Nick because obviously he's been pushing his international claims and we hope he won't miss out on the final."
Richards philosophical
Quins director of rugby Dean Richards refused to be too critical of his side whose season has ended in rather disappointing fashion after promising so much.
"We had opportunities to get points on the board but didn't take them," he said.
"We found ourselves ten points down and started chasing the game which we didn't do very well at.
"It might have been a totally different game had we taken those points at the start. That's life.
"We should have been more clinical but at the same time it's been a fantastic season and the boys have done extremely well.
"I like to think this is just the beginning. We'll learn from today and will be a better side next year."
