Booth led Irish to the play-off finals in his first season in charge

London Irish head coach Toby Booth says this season will be deemed a "failure" if his side do not reach the Premiership play-offs.

Saturday's defeat at Gloucester leaves them in sixth place in the Premiership and their chances of finishing in the top four are now remote.

He told BBC Berkshire: "I think it's a failure - I can't gloss over it.

"I'm bitterly disappointed, as are all the coaches and the players. We've let an opportunity slip through our hands."

Booth added: "You don't know how many you're going to get. That will be motivation for whatever comes next."

Irish have one match remaining this season, at home against Northampton. To reach the play-offs they must win that game and hope that both Bath lose at home to Leeds and Wasps lose at Newcastle.

Booth suggested their match could be used to try some different players.

"We'll have a look at what's actually riding on that game. It could easily be a situation where we give an opportunity to some people to go forward," he said.

"There are always things to learn from every single game, giving people opportunities, but we'll make a judgement on that a bit nearer the time."

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