London Irish compounded Worcester's Premiership worries

London Irish (10) 23
Try: Paice, Tagicakibau
Pens: Armitage (3)
Cons: Armitage (2)

Worcester (6) 16
Try: Tuitupou
Pens: Drahm (3)
Cons: Drahm

Sailosi Tagicakibau's try for London Irish three minutes from time ensured Worcester must wait for their first Premiership win of the season.

The Exiles trailed 13-10 after Kiwi Sam Tuitupou's try on his debut but the late score, converted by Delon Armitage, snatched the win.

London Irish also crossed through hooker David Paice as they climbed two places to eighth in the table.

Worcester's bonus point took them level on points with Leeds at the bottom.

Irish's win meant they edged above Newcastle and pushed European champions Wasps to third from bottom of the Premiership.

The home side got off to a flying start when Paice forced his way over for a converted try after four minutes following repeated drives at the Warriors line.

606: DEBATE Have your say on London Irish v Worcester

Worcester fly-half Shane Drahm and Armitage exchanged penalties before Worcester lost hooker Aleki Lutui to the sin-bin in the 34th minute after two quick moments of indiscipline.

But Armitage was yellow-carded for tripping Marcel Garvey just before the break and Drahm kicked the resulting penalty to reduce the London Irish lead to 10-6.

After the interval, Tuitupou, capped nine times by New Zealand, left the Irish defence standing as he burst through the middle for his try.

But Armitage edged Irish back in front with penalties in the 53rd and 63rd minutes only for Drahm to level the scores at 16-16 two minutes later.

Worcester, who also handed a Premiership debut to All Blacks star Rico Gear at the fog-shrouded Madejski Stadium, sensed a chance to leapfrog Leeds but their hopes were dashed by Tagicakibau's late breakaway score.