Newcastle shrugged off worries over Wilkinson's injury

Newcastle slumped to their sixth successive Premiership defeat as Jonny Wilkinson was forced off with a neck injury at Kingston Park.

Declan Danaher's try and a Peter Hewat penalty put Irish on top at the break with Danaher adding another before John Rudd set up Tim Visser to score.

Wilkinson, who kicked a penalty, needed treatment after a heavy tackle but continued until 12 minutes from time.

Afterwards the Falcons said he should be fit to face Leicester next week.

"Jonny got a bang on the head and felt a bit of a stinger down one arm," said boss Steve Bates.

"He seemed fine at the end of the game, but he was a little bit woozy and the doctor has been having a look at him and we think he'll be fine."

• Newcastle coach Steve Bates:

"It was a pretty poor game today and we were very disappointing in the first half and we looked very tired.

"It's a case of two steps forward and one back.

"We looked a little bit panicky and not comfortable on the ball and while we may have never been out of it if you looked at the scoreboard that doesn't excuse the level of performance."

• London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith:

"We're satisfied with the win but not the performance.

"It's a long way up to Newcastle and long way down from the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Perpignan. We don't have a big squad and we're having to ask people to soldier on and front up.

"We're delighted with the way we're going in the Heineken Cup but we have ambitions in the Premiership to finish in the top six so today was a missed opportunity for us."

Newcastle: M. Tait, May, Dillon, Jones, Rudd, Wilkinson, Grindal, Ward, Long, D. Wilson, Perry, Sorenson, Buist, B. Wilson, Dowson.
Replacements: Thompson, Hayman, Parling, Winter, Williamson, Young, Visser.

London Irish: Hewat, Ojo, Mapusua, Geraghty, Tagicakibau, Hickey, Hodgson, Lea'aetoa, Coetzee, Rautembach, Hudson, Casey, Danaher, Thorpe, P. Murphy.
Replacements: D. Murphy, Paice, Kennedy, Leguizamon, S. Armitage, Fury, De Vedia.

Referee: David Rose (RFU)