Ryan Lamb produced a flawless kicking display to help sink former club Gloucester as they went down 23-16 at London Irish.
Former Gloucester man helps Exiles win and go second in Premiership
Ryan Lamb produced a flawless kicking display to help sink his former club Gloucester as they went down 23-16 at London Irish on Sunday.
The Exiles moved up into second place in the Aviva Premiership with tries in each half from hooker James Buckland and number eight George Stowers.
Fly-half Lamb kicked 13 points as he went five from five with his kicking to leave Irish three points behind unbeaten leaders Northampton.
Irish once again look title play-off material, even at this early stage of proceedings, yet Gloucester could find themselves facing a long, hard winter after they lost their second game out of three so far.
Despite often being bullied by Irish's stronger pack - Gloucester at least grabbed a losing bonus point through Lesley Vainikolo's injury time effort that substitute Tim Taylor converted to follow three earlier penalties by Nicky Robinson.
Exchange
Lamb and Robinson exchanged early penalties but Irish looked dangerous from the outset, cleverly mixing their running and kicking games before Gloucester's defence was unlocked after 19 minutes.
Precision passing by the Irish backs stretched Gloucester in all directions before flanker Declan Danaher delivered a scoring ball to Buckland and Lamb converted for a 10-3 lead.
Although Robinson cut the deficit through his second penalty, Gloucester continued to concede huge amounts of territory.
Irish should have been further ahead as the teams trooped off, yet Gloucester were still in contention even if they offered little evidence of any attacking prowess.
Robinson quickly completed his penalty hat-trick in a further wake-up call for the home team, and it took another Lamb strike after Irish's forwards were held over Gloucester's line to restore a four-point advantage.
Urgency
Irish eagerly attempted to inject some urgency, sparked by scrum-half Paul Hodgson's darting breaks in front of watching England attack coach Brian Smith, and with Gloucester's discipline showing signs of fraying, another Lamb penalty made it 16-9.
Entertainment value for the crowd of just over 8,000 fans was minimal though, and with both sides regularly conceding penalties there was a frustrating stop-start nature to the contest.
Irish stepped up a gear early in the final quarter though and Mapusua stormed into Gloucester territory, and when quick ball was rifled out to the Irish backs wing Johnathan Joseph found an unmarked Stowers, who blasted through Robinson's challenge.
Lamb added the extras, and with Irish safe on the scoreboard they began to rediscover the attacking enterprise that has become a trademark under their coaching team of Toby Booth and Mike Catt.
Gloucester, in contrast, lost their shape and composure despite the consolation try as the pressure is now inevitably cranked up on head coach Bryan Redpath prior to next Saturday's appointment with Wasps.
