London Irish's Toby Booth frustrated by Saints defeat

Booth saw his former player Shane Geraghty kick the winning conversion

London Irish head coach Toby Booth was left frustrated by Saturday's defeat by Northampton in the Premiership.

Irish lost 24-22, thanks to a last-minute try from Chris Ashton, converted by former Exile Shane Geraghty.

Booth told BBC Berkshire he was disappointed with some of the decisions made by the match officials.

"There were a few events that I'll have to look at on the video, but sometimes when you're away from home you don't get the rub of the green," he said.

"I'll certainly be asking a few questions to get an explanation because the rules are the rules.

"It's our job to determine the outcome of the game and you want referees to be brave and to make accurate calls. It's a very, very difficult job.

"I thought we'd done enough and manufactured an opportunity to close the game out, but as it turned out, it wasn't the case."

The defeat sees Irish drop to third in the table, with Northampton moving one place ahead of them.

Booth said he felt his team had done enough to win the game.

"We did some good things, they did some good things - it was a typical tussle between two good sides," he said.

"But when you get in front, you expect to close those games out.

"I thought we defended excellently, our kick-chase was brilliant, our scrummaging was fantastic - there's some real positives in there, but it comes down to key opportunities. They had one and they've taken it."

"You've got to make sure that you stay switched on for more than 79 minutes and 20 seconds because we defended brilliantly and we've come up short. It was a heroic effort because this is a very hard place to come and win."

Despite the loss, Booth remains upbeat about the Exiles next match at Worcester on Saturday.

"It's always a tough place to win. We've got to be at our best and be clinical and take our opportunities," he said.

"There's ten games to go - still a long way to go - and we're fighting for those top four places and will continue to do so."