NICK Kennedy defended the decision for London Irish to kick a late penalty rather than going for a try which could have set up victory following their 13-9 Aviva Premiership defeat at home to Sale Sharks, writes Richard Ashton.

Exiles had been on the back foot for almost all of Saturday's clash at Madejski Stadium, but a heroic defensive effort had them trailing just 13-6 when they earned a 72nd-minute penalty five metres from the visitors' line. Sale's Mark Jones was also sin-binned.

However, rather than trying to level the scores with a converted try, Tommy Bell's third penalty reduced the arrears to four points, only for Exiles to fail to finish the comeback.

However, Kennedy said: "The thinking (of kicking the penalty) was we must win the game, so lets get within one try and get back out there with all the momentum and get back down their end of the field and force an error.

"In the last few minutes we played well, we had the ball and there was space out there to be exploited, but it was two breakdowns which cost us.

"We had a lot of momentum and we were on the up, but we just weren't in quick enough and they turned us over twice.

"They're the kind of fine margins in these games, we have to look after the ball and if we got through more phases and score we end up winning the game. It would be a very different outlook now."

While defeat – coupled with Worcester's shock 6-5 win at Exeter – left Irish 12 points adrift at the bottom of the table, Kennedy praised his side's tenacity, especially in light of a first-half injury to in-form fly half Theo Brophy Clews.

He commented: "It was disappointing, but there were some brilliant bits of play from us. I thought our defence was outstanding – we were under the pump for the vast majority of the first half and they were throwing everything at us.

"They did get the one score from the scrum, but other than that I thought we kept them out really well. The boys defended with real intensity, real passion, winning collisions against a very good attacking team."

He continued: "There were a few periods where we did look after the ball and got in behind them where things looked good. Arno (Botha) looked good again and Ofisa (Treviranus) carried a lot.

"It was difficult losing Theo the way we did. He's been in top form and we had to re-jig. That took its toll on a little bit of organisation."

Irish visit 10th-placed Northampton Saints on Saturday (3pm), and Kennedy admitted a win is vital.

He concluded: "It's getting to the point where losing bonus points aren't good enough for us, we must win games. We'll throw absolutely everything we've got at Saints."