London Irish (16) 28
Tries: S Armitage 2, Tagicakibau, Mapusua Cons: Geraghty Pens: Geraghty 2

Leicester (21) 31
Tries: Ayerza, Smith 2 Cons: Dupuy 4 Cons: Dupuy 2

Julien Dupuy's reliable kicking helped Leicester to victory

Leicester had to see off a late revival by London Irish to earn their first Premiership away win since September.

Matt Smith's tries either side of half-time looked to have won it but tries by Steffon Armitage and Seilala Mapusua raised Irish hopes in the dying stages.

Marcos Ayerza scored the first try only for Armitage to reply for the Exiles.

Smith's brace put the Tigers well clear before Sailosi Tagicakibau's score cut the lead and the two late tries further closed the gap, but the Tigers held on.

606: DEBATE If anyone wanted to convince someone that rugby was the best sport to watch on tv, they might as well have recorded this game and shown it over and over again TonyDSD

London Irish coach Toby Booth:
"We just gave ourselves too much to do. We were outmanoeuvred a bit, made a couple of errors and were punished.

"We know this is a difficult period. We get people back but don't get enough time. They have to go from learning one game plan to another game plan, that might be totally different.

"We're playing a little bit safe at the moment, but I think we still did enough to win three of those games."

Leicester coach Richard Cockerill:
"These four points put us in the mix and put pressure on those above us.

"We've said to the players to go out and play, and they have done that. Suddenly we have a Leicester team who want to play - and that's dangerous.

"It will come down to the last game. They are all hard games, but this puts us in a position to get into the top four and push for the top two to get a home draw in the play-offs."

London Irish: Homer, Ojo, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Thompstone, Geraghty, Hodgson, Dermody, Buckland, Lea'aetoa, Hudson, Johnson, Thorpe, S. Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Tagicakibau for Homer (53), Fisher for Ojo (73), Catt for Seveali'i (40), Richards for Hodgson (71), Coetzee for Buckland (53), Corbisiero for Lea'aetoa (53), Danaher for Thorpe (53).

Leicester: Hamilton, J Murphy, Smith, Mauger, Tuilagi, Vesty, Dupuy, Ayerza, Davies, Cole, L Deacon, Kay, Newby, Woods, Crane, Bonorino.
Replacements: Erinle for Smith (58), Hougaard for Vesty (78), Bonorino for Cole (3), Wentzel for L Deacon (55), B Deacon for Crane (43), Chuter for Bonorino (74).

Not Used: Youngs.

Att: 12,104

Ref: David Pearson (RFU).

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