Gloucester strike in extra time to deny the Exiles

European Challenge Cup Final: Gloucester 36, London Irish 34  After blowing a 12-point lead by conceding two tries from driving mauls in the final 10 minutes of normal time, Gloucester secured their second trophy in the professional era with a score which epitomised their recently acquired sense of adventure.

They appeared spent at the end of the first period of extra-time. They had absorbed so much pressure in the previous 30 minutes that they resembled a boxer clutching at the ropes, more likely to slide to the ground without the support rather than get back on to their feet; Irish had taken a three-point lead through Barry Everitt's fourth penalty and had established such a dominance at forward that the engraver had probably begun to etch their name on the trophy.

When Irish started the second period of extra-time, the Gloucester number eight, James Forrester, caught the kick on his 25. Gloucester secured possession from the subsequent ruck and scrumhalf Peter Richards, taking advantage of the Irish defending deep, produced a deft chip. James Simpson-Daniel gathered at pace to take play towards the halfway line.

The ball was moved left and centre Anthony Allen weaved through defenders before laying it back. With the referee playing advantage for an infringement at the ruck that Allen had set up, Forrester chipped over the opposition tryline and reached the ball just before it bounced out of play.

It was a fitting end to a match between two of the Premiership's more artistic sides this season.

Gloucester outhalf Ryan Lamb, who was 20 last week, has generated as much attention in recent weeks as the Irish veteran Mike Catt, and Lamb showed during the 47 minutes he was on the field yesterday that he was worth the hype. After Irish had opened the scoring with two Everitt penalties, Lamb's ability to line-kick with deadly precision gave his side field position and compensated for their failings in the set-pieces, especially the lineout.

Lamb is not the most robust player to have appeared at outhalf, and, while he stood in deep positions when kicking, he did receive a buffeting, taking a legitimate hit from the scrumhalf Paul Hodgson after he had chipped out of his 25. He had barely recovered from treatment when the fullback Rob Thirlby, whose error had gifted Irish their opening try, made a hash of catching a kick. Lamb cleaned up, but was caught at the bottom of a ruck and departed with a dead leg and cut lip. Gloucester were less assured without him.

While Irish had enjoyed more of the play in the first half, Gloucester were the more accomplished side, taking a lead they were to hold until the end of 80 minutes when Mike Tindall chipped to the line for the wing Mark Foster to score after Topsy Ojo slipped on the turn.

Flanker Andy Hazell extended Gloucester's lead after Irish failed to defend a lineout near their line, but Thirlby's failure to deal with Everitt's swirling kick on his own line presented Delon Armitage with a try.

The sides traded penalties before Simpson-Daniel appeared to apply the coup de grace when he intercepted Bob Casey's lobbed pass on the halfway line.

Irish trailed 31-19 with two minutes of normal time remaining, but they forced a series of mauls and Olivier Magne emerged from a pile of bodies to be credited with a try. Another sustained forward raid led to Robbie Russell taking the ball over.

Everitt missed what would have been the match-winning conversion, but kicked a penalty in the first period of stoppage time.

Gloucester looked out of it, but Forrester played lumberjack to Irish's ambition on a day which had threatened to be about Catt or Lamb turned out to be about which team had more dog.

GLOUCESTER: Thirlby (Bailey, 81); Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Allen, Foster; Lamb (Mercier, 47), Richards; Collazo (Azam, f-t), Davies, Forster (Powell, 46), Pendlebury (Eustace, 78), Brown, Buxton (capt), Hazell (Narraway, 78), Forrester. Tries: Foster, Hazell, Simpson-Daniel, Forrester. Cons: Lamb, Mercier. Pens: Lamb 2, Mercier 2.

LONDON IRISH: Armitage; Ojo, Catt (capt), Flutey (Tiesi, f-t), Tagicakibau; Everitt, Hodgson (Willis, 95); Hatley (Paice, 40), Russell, Skuse (Collins, 60; Murphy, 80), Casey, Kennedy, Roche, Magne (Danaher, 78), Leguizamon. Tries: Armitage, Magne, Russell. Cons: Everitt 2. Pens: Everitt 4. Drop-goal: Everitt. Sin-bin: Leguizamon, 48.

Referee: N Whitehouse (Wales).