London Irish coach Toby Booth questions accuracy

Booth says Irish have to learn to deliver when they are favourites

London Irish head coach Toby Booth says his team let themselves and the supporters down losing to the Scarlets.

Irish led their Heineken Cup match by 12 points with three-quarters of the game played but imploded to lose 31-22.

Booth told BBC Berkshire: "I don't question the effort - it's about accuracy. Good teams can do both for long periods of time.

"We were guilty of contributing to that ourselves, rather than making them work for it and that's very disappointing."

He added: "We need to seriously look at how we got ourselves into those positions.

"We relinquished control of the game. They seized it with massive siege mentality and coming to Wales, it's never been any different."

Booth said it was a lack of accuracy which led to their dramatic downfall.

"We lost four line-outs on the spin which gave them some momentum and encouraged their kicking game.

"There were lots of ebb and flow moments, but our ability to pass, to be able to control the ball in contact, to take the right options and recognise situations - for large parts of the game we did that, but when we didn't, we looked ordinary.

"That's the price of how we play. We play with width and to try to move the ball around and we have to be good at those aspects because when we're not, we come second."

Irish now face the daunting task of ensuring a bonus-point win over reigning champions Leinster at Twickenham next Saturday while denying the visitors a losing bonus point.

606: DEBATE

From what I saw, some bad decision making and overeagerness cost us dear

PcPete - IRIS, IRIS IRIS!!!

But Booth is not without hope.

"We like a challenge, so that will be an interesting event.

"It'll be a big crowd at a big venue and I'm sure we'll see a response. This team likes a challenge and it's all part of the push to make us competitive in every competition.

"As a team it's an interesting dynamic for us, to see how we do against the best in Europe because that gives us a gauge of where we are in the big picture."