Nadolo: I was inspired by mum

NEMANI Nadolo revealed after his man-of-the-match display that he was inspired by his watching mum over from Australia.

It was the first time since Covid intervened that she had been able to watch him play.

“It was very special for me. It does not matter whether you are a 10-year-old or a professional player, it’s always very special to have your mum watching.

“She’s probably going to tell me off because I got yellow carded at the end,” he laughed.

Nadolo signalled to her in the stands each time he scored a try.

Leicester‘s boss Steve Borthwick said Irish had provided the expected difficult match: “We had to work very hard. It was a tough match.”

Declan Kidney described Irish’s first defeat in five matches as a “smack on the nose”.

The Irish head coach added: “We had a lot of good moments and deserved something from the match. We stayed on it as a team but these things can happen at Welford Road if you’re not on the money.”

Kidney refused to comment on the dismissal of centre Curtis Rona. “We will leave it the judicial process,” he added. He said Chunya Munga had gone off in the first half because of a head injury assessment.