 Veteran centre Mike Catt, 35, pulled the strings for the Exiles on Sunday |
London Irish: (22) 40
Tries: Armitage, Hodgson, Bishop, Catt, Ojo
Pens: Geraghty (2)
Cons: Geraghty (3)
Drop goals: Catt
Northampton (0) 5
Tries: Robinson
London Irish moved into mid-table in the Guinness Premiership with a bonus-point victory at home to Northampton on Sunday.
Delon Armitage, Justin Bishop, Paul Hodgson, Mike Catt and Topsy Ojo scored the Irish tries.
Stand-in fly-half Shane Geraghty, 20, contributed 12 points with the boot.
Struggling Northampton's only points came from a 53rd minute Mark Robinson try when the Exiles already had 32 points on the board.
London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith on veteran centre Mike Catt's performance:
"His game management was outstanding. When he needed to get the ball wide his passing was outstanding, and he kicked superbly again for us. "Catty's just a remarkable player. Churning out performances like that, he's
genuine class.
"I was also very proud of the team's performance.
"We'd got up to 20 by half-time and I asked them to be very professional, to give Northampton nothing, and we managed to double the score."
Northampton head coach Paul Grayson:
"It was painful from the off. Once they stretched it to 20 points, we were never in a position to close the gap. "We couldn't hold on to the ball for more than two or three phases.
"It was a bad day for us but a lot of these things are fixable, and there is a long way to go (in the season).
"We are not going to hide and we have a handful of pretty useful players to come back."
606 DEBATE: Give your thoughts on the match
London Irish: D Armitage; Bishop, Feaunati, Catt, Tagicakibau; Geraghty, Hodgson; Hatley, Coetzee, Lea'aetoa, Kennedy, Casey, Magne, S Armitage, P Murphy.
Replacements: Skuse, Russell, J. Hudson, McCullen, Horak, Rees, Ojo.
Northampton: Going; Bourett, Kydd, Myring, Diggin; Spencer, Robinson; Smith, Hartley, Budgen, Damien Browne, Gerard, Tupai, Fox, Easter.
Replacements: Richmond, Tonga'uiha, Lord, Daniel Browne, Vass, J Howard, Mallon. Referee: Roy Maybank (Kent)
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