TOM Coventry was left frustrated as his much-changed London Irish side crashed to a 28-18 defeat against Grenoble at Madejski Stadium, writes Richard Ashton.

Exiles head coach saw his side fall 28-6 behind early in the second half, and despite a late rally, they suffered a defeat which all but ends their European Challenge Cup campaign.

He admitted: “We needed to be better and we weren’t, so we got what we deserved. On reflection some of the guys who got their opportunities will be disappointed.

“It’s difficult to take the loss. If we’d taken our opportunities and been better at the set piece at certain times possibly the result would have been different.”

He continued: “We gave up some soft tries early on in the game and, with the lead they had, it was always going to be tough to come back.

“I was disappointed with some of the tries we gave up but happy with the way the players fought back, but in the end it was a little too late.”

Coventry defended his decision to ring the changes following the club’s victory against Newcastle Falcons the previous Sunday and said: “In a season as long as this one, we have to be conscious of managing our squad.

“We have guys who are desperate to play. They train hard every week and it is key they are given opportunities to play, so allowing them that chance was what we needed to do.”

And the New Zealander reserved special praise for some of his youngsters.

He said: “We worked hard to get the ball out to the edges and I thought Tom Fowlie did well. Up front young Ollie Curry did well, I thought he stood up well physically.

“Theo (Brophy-Clews) also performed well. Some of the better fly halves in the world have sometimes played in other positions to grow their game and he played well.”