Match Centre: London Irish 21-22 Gloucester

London Irish 21-22 Gloucester Rugby, Gtech Community Stadium

Adam Hastings kicked a drop goal in the 62nd minute as Gloucester Rugby edged out London Irish 22-21 in the seventh round of the Gallagher Premiership at Gtech Community Stadium on Friday.

This is fourth win for Gloucester in five games as they climb to the third position in the table with 20 points while London Irish are at 11th position.

The game also was clouded by injury to England wing Jonny May following an arm injury while his international team-mate Henry Arundell also limped off the field with an ankle injury.

London Irish kick-started the proceedings in the opening minute as Agustin Creevy dived over and Paddy Jackson kicked the conversion to make it 7-0. They extended the lead to 10 points in the 14th minute as Jackson slotted a three-pointer as the home side dominated the opening exchanges.

The end of the opening quarter saw Arundell leaving the field and Gloucester opened the account shortly as Adam Hastings helped Santiago Socino slide over. Hastings missed out on the conversion as the scoreline became 10-5.

London Irish got their second try inside the half-hour mark Loader outjumped May to grab a crossfield kick from Jackson to score but the Gloucester wing had to leave the field injured in the process. Jackson missed out on the conversion but London Irish had a 15-5 lead.

The momentum once again shifted towards the visitors as Ruan Ackermann dotted down at the back of a Gloucester maul and Hastings' conversion brought the gap down to three points.

Jackson kicked penalties on either side of the break as the home side extended their lead to 21-12 but a second from Socino in the 52nd minute brought Gloucester back into the game with Hastings' conversion bringing down the deficit to two points.

Gloucester took the lead of the game for the first time on the hour mark when Adam Hastings slotted a monster drop goal from halfway. Even though London Irish were desperate for a final flourish, stern defence from Gloucester saw them hold on to their one-point lead as they registered their fourth consecutive victory.

Team line up:

London Irish: Arundell, Loader, Luna, van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, White, Fischetti, Creevy, Chawatama, Ratuniyarawa, Simmons, Gonzalez, Pearson, Fa'aso'o.

Reserves: Miller, Goodrick-Clarke, Parker, Munga, Cunningham-South, Englefield, Joseph, Parton.

Gloucester: Carreras, Rees-Zammit, Harris, Kveseladze, May, Hastings, Chapman, Ruskin, Socino, Balmain, Clarke, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow, Ackermann.

Reserves: Singleton, Elrington, Knight, Jordan, Tuisue, Varney, Reeves, Evans.