Bonus-point win for Exiles

Editor

London Irish ran in five tries as they collected an emphatic 42-24 bonus-point victory over Worcester at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

London Irish ran in five tries as they collected an emphatic 42-24 bonus-point victory over Worcester at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

Four second-half tries helped the Exiles to their third win in four matches.

London Irish headed into the game on the back of a defeat to Gloucester, while Worcester were looking to build on last week's 12-3 win over Northampton.

Steve Shingler got the ball rolling with a seventh-minute try, planting the ball down despite the attentions of Worcester's Marcel Garvey. Tom Homer added the extras.

The home side's cause wasn't helped, however, when Darren Allinson was sin-binned minutes later. Worcester made the most of the numerical advantage and levelled the scores with a try from Miles Benjamin which Andy Goode converted.

It was nip and tuck for the remainder of the first half.

Three Homer penalties before the interval gave the Exiles the lead, although Worcester stayed in contention through Goode's booted effort on thirty minutes.

The second half began at a frantic pace, with four tries coming during the opening 20 minutes following the restart. Unfortunately for Worcester, three of them were scored by their hosts.

Six minutes in, Chris Hala'ufia finished off a good home move to score, before Jonathon Joseph crossed.

Worcester responded through a try to Marcel Garvey, but a five-pointer from Homer, which he converted himself, put the Exiles 37-17 up.

Adam Thompstone's try in the dying minutes piled on the misery for Worcester, although the visitors did manage a late consolation when Garvey crossed for his second.

The win lifts London Irish to fourth in the table, while defeat for Worcester means they remain tenth.

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Steve Shingler, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Chris Hala'ufia 7 Alex Gray, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Bryn Evans , 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody (c)
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Mark George, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 David Sisi, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Guy Armitage, 22 Adrian Jarvis, 23 Paul Hodgson

Worcester: 15 Errie Claassens, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Dale Rasmussen (c), 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Ollie Frost, 8 Chris Jones, 7 Jake Abbott, 6 Neil Best, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 James Percival, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 2 Ed Shervington, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ceri Jones, 17 Chris Fortey, 18 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 19 Adam Balding, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Danny Gray, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Tom Arscott.

Referee: JP Doyle