London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith heaped praise on his players for reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time.
London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith heaped praise on his players for reaching the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time and roared out a warning to whichever team travels to meet them at the Madejski Stadium in April.
It may have taken until the eighth minute of injury time before Smith's side picked up their fourth try, and their fourth try bonus point of the campaign, but by then Perpignan's challenge had fallen short and they were into the last eight as winners of Pool 1.
"We were a bit patchy in the second half, but this is a great achievement for the club to reach the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup for the first time," said Smith.
"We ended the first-half in a good position having scored three tries and we needed to start the second half positively.
"But we gifted them six points and that gave them a big lift. We struggled to get our rhythm back and we were our own worst enemy.
"We wanted to keep our line intact, but they managed to score a good try. But we've finished with 25 tries in the Pool and that shows our attacking potential.
"We have a big advantage playing at home in the last eight and I don't think anyone is going to enjoy coming to the Madejski Stadium. We'll probably start as the underdogs, but that's the way we like it and we'll look to build from here."
Smith also singled out England scrum half Peter Richards for special praise. Richards, who used to play for Treviso, returned to torment his former team mates.
He scored the first try of the game and paved the way for a second before leaving the game at half time with a bicep injury.
"It speaks volumes of Peter's performance that he only played for 40 minutes yet was still named as the man of the match," added Smith.
"He set the tempo for us and was quite outstanding."
