Aviva Premiership: London Irish earn important win over Gloucester at the Madejski

Blair Cowan of Irish powers through the Gloucester defence

London Irish kept their hopes of remaining in the Aviva Premiership alive with a battling 23-18 win over Gloucester.

The victory cuts the gap to 11th-placed Newcastle Falcons down to five points.

Blair Cowan's late try and the boot of Greig Tonks sealed a victory at the Madejski Stadium that could prove vital in the final reckoning for Tom Coventry's side.

Winless since February and having conceded 98 points in their previous three outings, the Exiles nonetheless entered the game with confidence after a good performance against table-toppers Saracens in New Jersey last weekend.

The visitors thought they scored first after seven minutes, when Tom Marshall ran onto a Henry Trinder kick and fed Callum Braley, whose hand-off allowed captain Billy Twelvetrees to cross.

But the try was disallowed by the TMO for offside and the home side made the most of their reprieve by scoring shortly afterwards. Halani Aulika muscled the ball over the line from a metre out following a jinking run from Topsy Ojo to make it 7-0 after ten minutes following the conversion.

James Hook put Gloucester on the board with a penalty two minutes later, but Tonks cancelled out the effort when Gloucester were penalised for not rolling away.

Hook had an opportunity to cut the deficit once again at the start of the second quarter when Alex Lewington was adjudged to have strayed offside, but his long-range went wide.

After a period of pressure inside the Gloucester 22, Irish won a penalty when Gloucester collapsed the scrum, but Tonks missed from short range.

Marshall was then shown a yellow card on the half-hour mark, but 14-man Gloucester scored a try against the run of play, with Lewis Ludlow bundling the ball over the line, and Hook added the conversion to make it level at the break.

The hosts regained the lead after 51 minutes when Gloucester were penalised once again at the scrum and Tonks slotted home.

But Gloucester levelled it up almost immediately, with Hook kicking his second penalty of the day after the Exiles infringed under pressure in front of their posts.

And the visitors took the lead for the first time in the contest at the close of the third quarter, when Trinder snuck inside the touchline down the left after chasing down Hook's kick and doing well to stay in play, but Hook missed the difficult conversion.

Irish came back strongly and camped in Gloucester's 22 with a succession of scrum penalties on the five-metre line in front of the posts, with Yann Thomas eventually being shown a yellow card on 67 minutes.

Tom Savage was then also shown a yellow card with 10 minutes left to play, leaving Gloucester to defend a five-point lead with just 13 men.

London Irish made the most of their numerical advantage when Cowan touched down following a good maul from the Exiles, with Tonks coolly converting to give the hosts the lead once more at 20-18.

And the Premiership strugglers closed out the game when Tonks scored a penalty in the 77th minute.