Exiles fly by Falcons

London Irish made short work of Newcastle on Saturday, running in three tries for 23-14 win at Madejski Stadium.

London Irish made short work of Newcastle on Saturday, running in three tries for 23-14 win at Madejski Stadium.

London Irish avoided their seventh consecutive loss in the Aviva Premiership with a comfortable victory that condemned struggling Newcastle to their ninth defeat of the season.
Rival fly-halves Ryan Lamb and Jimmy Gopperth lit up a largely dull encounter with fine individual scores and the result leaves the Falcons second-bottom and just four points above Leeds Carnegie.

The Exiles led through an early penalty from Lamb but Gopperth neatly stepped inside Seilala Mapusua for a try under the posts which he also converted.

Midway through the opening period, Irish suffered a major blow in losing Paul Hodgson through injury but Lamb soon glided past two defenders for a solo try which he converted. Eight minutes after the restart, Clarke Dermody was on hand to drive over from close range for a try which Lam converted.

This score was soon followed by another try, this time an easy running for Mapusua after influential play from Topsy Ojo and replacement Darren Allinson.

Irish's ill discipline began to cost them as they conceded a succession of penalties and flanker Steffon Armitage to the sin-bin with twelve minutes remaining.

However, it was Irish who collected the next score when replacement Chris Malone kicked an excellent 55-metre penalty to seal a win for Toby Booth's men.

With the last movement of the match Gcobani Bobo broke away to score a consolation try for the Falcons which Gopperth converted but it was not enough to secure them a losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For London Irish:
Tries: Lamb, Dermody, Mapusua
Con: Lamb
Pens: Lamb, Malone

For Newcastle:
Tries: Gopperth, Bobo
Cons: Gopperth 2

Yellow card: S. Armitage (London Irish – 68th min)

London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Elvis Seveali'i, 12 Seilala Mapusua (capt), 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 George Stowers, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Kieran Roche, 5 Kieran Low, 4 Nick Kennedy 3 Paulica Ion, 2 James Buckland, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Will Johnson, 18 Clarke Dermody, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Steffon Armitage, 21 Chris Malone, 22 Daniel Bowden, 23 Darren Allinson.

Newcastle: 15 Jeremy Manning, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Luke Eves, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Alex Tait, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Micky Young, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch, 6 Tim Swinson, 5 Andrew Van der Heijden, 4 James Hudson, 3 James Hall, 2 Matt Thompson, 1 Jonny Golding.
Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 Kieran Brookes, 18 Grant Shiells, 19 Filipo Levi, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Hall Charlton, 22 Rob Vickerman, 23 Gcobani Bobo.

Venue: Madejski Stadium
Referee: Martin Fox