London Irish suffered a 22-19 loss to Gloucester on Sunday, with former Wallabies goal-kicker James O'Connor overlooked for an all-important penalty attempt at the death.
London Irish trailed 16-7 at halftime, but produced a late rally and outscored the visitors three tries to one at Madejski Stadium with Eamonn Sheridan crossing twice in the second half.
Flyhalf Shane Geraghty missed a late chance to secure a draw for Irish when his long-distance penalty attempt fell well short.
Sheridan crashed over for his second try with nine minutes to go, with Geraghty converting but then missing the penalty that came with three minutes remaining in the premiership match.
Despite O'Connor's pedigree, Irish coach Brian Smith said Geraghty was the right man to entrust.
"O'Connor does kick goals but your first option is to go to your No.10," Smith said.
"Shane was very confident he could kick it and all three boys, including Ian Humphreys, have been striking the ball very well all week.
"It would have been a pretty good result if we could have got a draw in the end, as it's disappointing to have only one point when we score three tries to one.
"It was disappointing but I'm very proud of our effort."
O'Connor recently indicated he's still considering a bid to play for Australia at the 2015 Rugby World Cup despite reports he's agreed to join French club Toulon next season.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie has made it clear there'll be no bending of the Australian Rugby Union rule that players must be playing in Australia to be picked for the Wallabies.
Gloucester built Sunday's win on the back of 14 points from the boot of England centre Billy Twelvetrees, who impressed out of his normal position.
"Billy has nearly all the attributes to make a top No.10," Gloucester coach Nigel Davies said.
"He's very solid, pivotal and defensively sound but he wants to play at 12 and fill in at 10."
