London Irish 14-26 Leeds

London Irish's Kevin Barrett is stopped in his tracks

London Irish's relegation woes continue after a disappointing defeat by Leeds Tykes.

The Exiles could not match the pace or talent of their opponents in the first half, and despite a spirited second-half comeback, their Premiership place is now in serious danger.

The afternoon could not have started worse for Irish with the loss of inspirational player-coach Brendan Venter after just three minutes.

We just didn't turn up in the first half and it is getting more like a last chance saloon for us Exiles boss Conor O'Shea

The South African has sustained knee ligament damage and has probably played his last game for the club.

Leeds immediately capitalised on the disruption with Braam van Straaten scoring a penalty which fly-half Gordon Ross soon matched after Van Straaten also left the field with an injury.

Barry Everitt replied for London Irish, but Ross stretched Leeds' advantage with a third penalty before scrum-half Alan Dickens touched down for a superb try to leave Irish on the back foot.

Ross converted before adding a drop-goal to give Leeds a 19-3 lead at the break.

But the home side clearly received a wake-up call at half-time. Mark Mapletoft replaced Everitt and the fly-half soon slotted over a penalty.

We are competing against great clubs with real tradition so what we have achieved in a decade is impressive Leeds boss Phil Davies

Paul Sackey then reduced the deficit further with a 57th-minute try after the ball was spread wide to the winger and with just one man to challenge him he skirted around to score.

Leeds extended their lead to 12 points and denied Irish a crucial bonus point when lock Chris Murphy went over, despite a forward pass by winger Chris Hall.

London Irish: Horak, Sackey, Burrows, Venter, Appleford, Everitt, Edwards, Worsley, Drotske, Hardwick, Strudwick, Casey, Danaher, Dawson, Sheasby.
Replacements: Barrett, Mapletoft, Kennedy, Flavin, Roche, Hatley, Halford.

Leeds: Albanese, Harder, Davies, van Straaten, Hall, Ross, Dickens, Shelley, Regan, Holt, C. Murphy, Palmer, Mather, Hyde, Popham.
Replacements: Kerr, Rawlinson, P. Murphy, Fea'unati, Hegarty, Emmerson, Stanley.

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)