Booth was forwards coach at London Irish under Brian Smith

London Irish head coach Toby Booth says Josh Lewsey was wrong to criticise England attack coach Brian Smith.

Lewsey questioned what Smith achieved when in charge at Irish, but Booth says he is not looking at the facts.

He told BBC Berkshire: "We're reaping the rewards of the base-work that Brian did in his time here.

"Brian took us to a Heineken Cup semi-final, a European Challenge Cup final, third in the Premiership - Brian Smith's not that bad is he?"

Booth worked with Smith for three seasons at London Irish, before the latter joined the England coaching set-up in July 2008.

Josh as a player was never one to hold back when talking about his own team-mates, at club or at country level. Exiles scrum-half Peter Richards

Having narrowly avoided relegation in the season before Smith arrived, the following year Irish were in the Premiership play-offs.

"When he came here, he took us from being the worst try scorers to the best," Booth added.

"If you want to be attacking, you have to make sacrifices.

"It's very difficult at international coaching set-ups because everyone has to have their piece of the pie - a fundamental difficulty that they have to overcome.

"Brian is a quality coach. If he can get people aligned to his way of thinking and the players buy in, then he's got a fighting chance and it's a question of time."

Exiles' scrum-half Peter Richards, a team-mate of Lewsey's at Wasps and England, added: "Josh as a player was never one to hold back when talking about his own team-mates, at club or at country level."

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