We'll get over our 'hiccup' says Gloucester's Tindall

London Irish 42 Gloucester 12: Gloucester missed the opportunity to take the Christmas No 1 spot – but Mike Tindall was quick to put their embarrassing defeat at the Madejski Stadium into perspective, writes Steve Cotton.

Dean Ryan's men went into this top-of-the-table clash level on points with Guinness Premiership leaders Irish and on the back of a seven-match winning run.

They came out of it looking bereft of both the raw physicality and tactical nous that wins titles, even though there were clearly mitigating circumstances for their display.

Outscored by four tries to nil by a side who have now won 10 consecutive matches, Gloucester know they are significantly better than the limp effort they served up in Reading.

And while neither head coach Ryan nor captain Tindall was prepared to use it as an excuse, the illness which swept through the Gloucester camp last week – costing them Olly Barkley on the morning of the game and Olly Morgan at half-time – clearly had an impact.

With several key players either missing or weakened by the bug, Gloucester looked flat and unable to match Irish's intensity.

Tries from Delon Armitage, Paul Hodgson, Sailosi Tagicakibau and Declan Danaher secured the bonus point that sent Irish two points clear of Bath and five ahead of Gloucester going into Christmas.

But the majority of the damage was done by Peter Hewat, who kicked superbly both tactically and at goal, adding 22 points of his own from the tee and keeping Gloucester pinned deep in their own territory for much of the afternoon.

When they tried to play their way out, they regularly gifted Irish the possession they turned into points.

For Gloucester, three Ryan Lamb penalties and one from Willie Walker equalled a humiliating return from what had been billed as the match of the weekend in the Premiership.

"Everyone's hurting – no one likes to lose and especially not by that kind of margin," said Tindall, who had recovered from illness to play – and then had to shift positions when Barkley withdrew.

"But you've got to have the ability to move on and I don't expect us to play that poorly again.

"I'm not going to worry about it too much – we've lost two games in 12. We know we're a good side and everyone's allowed a hiccup – that's what we are going to put it down to.

"We've got to go to Bristol now and try to make sure we put it right."

Gloucester simply had an off-day which happened to coincide with Irish peaking in just about every department. Toby Booth has done an excellent job since Brian Smith departed for England in the summer – and his team are playing with confidence and ambition.

They had too much for Gloucester on this occasion, taking a 21-9 half-time lead they never looked like relinquishing thanks to the new-found stubbornness which has undoubtedly helped them reach the Premiership summit.

"If we had all been fully fit, you would hope the result might have been different – but they put such a stranglehold on us that we would always have found it difficult," admitted Tindall.

"They played better than we did. They were very simple, they kicked the ball long and wanted us to make mistakes – and we did.

"We made probably eight poor kicks and they scored off two of them, and the other two tries were missed tackles."

Irish had already given several hints of their counter-attacking menace when the in-form Armitage crossed for the first try to make it 11-0.

The England full-back took Mark Foster's clearance kick deep in his own half – and set off on a powerful run which nobody in cherry and white was able to halt. He eventually skirted round Lamb to score.

Lamb kicked Gloucester back into it at 11-3 – but it was not long before Steffon Armitage's bullocking run had set the platform for a second Irish try, scored by Hodgson, who picked up from a ruck and slipped past Alasdair Strokosch to dive over under the posts.

Gloucester were being kept deep in their own half by Hewat's vision and powerful boot – and they were fortunate not to be further adrift at the break.

Walker, on for the suffering Morgan, landed a 50-metre penalty to reduce the deficit to nine points – but it was to be Gloucester's final score of the match as Irish took charge.

Three Hewat penalties made it 30-12 – and Gloucester did not have the platform from which to build momentum or keep the scoreboard ticking over. With time running out, Gloucester shipped a third try when they were again unable to play themselves out of their own 22 and Tagicakibau battled his way over the line.

And they carelessly conceded a fourth try in the dying seconds. All they had to do was run the ball out of play, but allowed Irish to snatch possession on halfway and Danaher raced in to give Irish a bonus point.

London Irish: D Armitage (S Geraghty 26); T Ojo, E Seveali'i, S Mapusua, S Tagicakibau; P Hewat, P Hodgson (A Lalanne 80); C Dermody, D Paice (J Buckland 76), T Lea'aetoa (A Corbisiero 66), J Hudson (K Roche 56), B Casey (capt), R Thorpe (D Danaher 52), S Armitage, C Hala'ufia. Rep not used: D Murphy.

Scorers: Tries – D Armitage, Hodgson, Tagicakibau, Danaher. Cons – Hewat (2). Pens – Hewat (6).

Gloucester: O Morgan (W Walker 41); M Foster, M Watkins, M Tindall (capt), L Vainikolo; R Lamb (J Adams 58), G Cooper; N Wood (A Dickinson 66), S Lawson (O Azam 41), G Somerville, M Bortolami (W James 55), A Brown, P Buxton (A Satala 42), A Strokosch, L Narraway. Rep not used: R Lawson.

Scorers: Pens – Lamb (3), Walker.

Referee: S Davey.

Att: 12,706.