Premiership: Saracens 34-34 London Irish - Exiles draw after Adam Coleman red card

Kyle Rowe's third try in added time set up the chance for London Irish to come away with the draw

London Irish recovered from the first-half sending-off of lock Adam Coleman to draw 34-34 against Saracens.

The Exiles snatched their third draw of the season, after recovering from being 34-8 down inside the final quarter.

Kyle Rowe's hat-trick of tries, including the third in added time, saw Irish roar back before Rory Jennings' conversion levelled on full-time.

Saracens seemed destined for a fifth successive win after scoring five tries before Irish rallied.

The match had looked like hinging on Australia international Coleman's dismissal after just 22 minutes when he made contact with the head of Jackson Wray.

After consultation with television match official Stuart Terheege, referee Ian Tempest sent off Coleman, who was already off the field for a head injury assessment.

Matters got worse for Irish when fly-half Paddy Jackson went off with an injury to his left forearm, and after first-half tries from Tom Woolstencroft and Rotimi Segun had given Saracens a 13-3 lead at the break, they built on it.

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Segun again, Ben Earl and Mako Vunipola helped get their try-bonus point in the bag either side of Rowe's first score.

But then came the sensational comeback from the visitors with three tries in 10 minutes.

Rowe claimed his second with another superb solo finish before scores from scrum-half Nick Phipps and back row Matt Rogerson brought them back within a converted score.

Irish kept up their momentum and their composure after winning a series of penalties deep in Saracens' 22, before Rowe went over out wide and former Bath back Jennings held his nerve to kick the final conversion.

Saracens stay second despite missing the chance to win again while Irish climb to seventh.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall told BBC Radio London:

"It's very hard to put your finger on why what happened, happened. But credit to London Irish, it was a magnificent display from them with 14 men.

"They've been doing that all season to be honest and they're a club with some real fight and grit and quality and to come back from that is something special.

"Maybe we thought the game was done and dusted at 34-8, but we hadn't been defending well all game and there were some tell-tale signs in the last 20 minutes of the first half.

"Our defensive team confidence got lower and lower and we were easy to score against and fair play to them for taking full advantage.

"We had plenty of chances ourselves we didn't put away. I thought we started the second half well, but we didn't finish as well as we wanted to."

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney told BBC Radio London:

"We're absolutely delighted with the comeback. That's the important thing to recognise straight after the game.

"The draw away from home and to collect three points on the road is never a bad day's work.

"In the cold light of day, we'll take more of a look at the things to improve on as we know there's so much more scope for us to get better.

"Once we learned that we needed to keep the ball and play with it today, that's where we got the joy.

"We settled down, we stayed patient and then we also had the courage to execute at the end. But it's the collective effort of the forwards beforehand to set that up that makes it happen.

"For me, I can't say anyone stood out, they all did their job from the front rows to the back three. I could go through each player.

"I'm not surprised that the end result happened. I'm delighted for the players involved that it did."

Saracens: Obatoyinbo; Lewington, Lozowski, Taylor, Segun; Goode (co-capt), Van Zyl; Mako Vunipola, Woolstencroft, Clarey, Isiekwe, Swinson, Christie, Wray (co-capt), Earl.

Replacements: Lewis, Barrington, Wainwright, McFarland, Reffell, Davies, Morris, Maitland.

London Irish: Parton; Rowe, Hepetema, van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Phipps; Goodrick-Clarke, Creevy, van der Merwe, Coleman, Simmons, Nott, Pearson, Rogerson (capt).

Replacements: Willemse, Dell, Hoskins, Mafi, Curtis-Harris, White, Jennings, Williams.

Sent off: Coleman (22 mins).

Referee: Ian Tempest (RFU).

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