Mapletoft’s conversion nosed them ahead for the first time – but it was short-lived

Mapletoft’s conversion nosed them ahead for the first time – but it was short-lived. Two foolish penalties saw Woods punish both with his boot.London Irish: Tries Woods 2, Richards; Conversion Woods; Penalties Woods 2. Gloucester: Try Devereux; Conversion Mapletoft; Penalties Mapletoft 3; Drop Mapletoft.London Irish: D Charles; J Bishop, B Venter, M McCall, N Woods; D Humphreys, P Richards; L Mooney, R Kellam, I McLaughlin (J Fitzpatrick, 69), N Harvey (capt), G Fulcher, K Spicer, I Feaunati, K Dawson.Gloucester: C Catling (C Emmerwon, 56); A Lumsden, T Fanolua, R Tombs, P Saint-Andre; M Mapletoft, S Benton; T Windo, C Fortey (N McCarthy, 73), A Deacon, R Fidler, D Sims, P Glanville (capt), S Devereux (S Ojomoh, 77), N Carter.Referee: R Goodliffe (Sheffield).. Woods found himself on the end of an exquisite move which left him needing a simple dummy to the full-back Chris Catling before he dived over for his second.Opportunities went begging on both sides but Gloucester began to assert themselves. The Irish No 8, Isaac Feaunati, picked up at a scrum close to the line, slipped the ball outside to the scrum-half, Peter Richards, who dummied outside before cutting back inside to score.They then spent the rest of the half suffering rugby’s equivalent of the water torture as Mapletoft chipped away at the difference with three penalties and a sharp drop goal.But the Exiles emerged for the second half fired up. And Mapletoft finished the half by missing a fourth penalty which would have taken Gloucester ahead.Not content with leading with their chin for one sucker punch, Gloucester fell for another in the opening half.

David Humphreys hoofed it upfield and Woods took up the chase, fly-hacking over the line before flinging himself on the ball He then converted his try. Two late penalties by the Ireland wing Niall Woods, who also ran in two tries, earned the Exiles a well-deserved victory – their third in the Allied Dunbar Premiership since the former England and Harlequins coach, Dick Best, took up his temporary appointment.
A fighting performance from both sides saw Irish leapfrog Wasps near the bottom of the table; Gloucester hover just outside the European elite.The Gloucester stand-off, Mark Mapletoft, had a curate’s egg of a first half He began it by messing up a pass to Richard Tombs. “I feel bad for her, for her dad, for what happened to her [when she was stabbed in 1993],” she said “I think she was the greatest ever. If nothing had happened to her, I think she would win another 20 Grand Slams, or whatever.”Scores, Digest, page 31. But I just want to say that she’s a great athlete and I will always admire her.”One day Kournikova might tell her grandchildren about the time she beat her tennis idol.

London Irish 23 Gloucester 19

GLOUCESTER foundered on the rocks of London Irish at chilly Sunbury last night. We trust that she will not gloss over the point that Seles, distraught by her father’s illness and out of condition after two months’ absence from tournaments, cut an almost matronly figure.Kournikova expressed compassion. She squealed with delight after winning, 7-5, 6-4, describing the success as “probably my most enjoyable victory”.There was no spite in the statement Quite the contrary. “Monica’s always been the player that I admired most,” the Americanised Russian explained “It was my dream to play against her. I feel great that I played against her and that I won, of course. That took the 25th-ranked Kournikova into a quarter-final against the second seed, Lindsay Davenport.Beating Seles, however, was a special event for Kournikova, whose maturing talent took her to the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.