London Irish (19) 29 Tries: S Armitage, Kennedy Cons: Homer 2 Pens: Homer 5 Bath (7) 14 Tries: Penalty, Lowe Cons: Evans 2
 London Irish came from behind to beat Harlequins |
Lock Nick Kennedy scored a superb try as London Irish clinched their first league win in four attempts to climb back into the Premiership top four. Harlequins led early on courtesy of a penalty try but Irish hit back through a converted Steffon Armitage try. Kennedy powered home from 35 yards for a second converted try and Tom Homer weighed in with five penalties. George Lowe's late try was no more than a consolation for Quins, who are now only five points off the bottom. The Irish had to press fly-half Ryan Lamb into emergency service at scrum-half after Peter Richards was ruled out late on Saturday night and Alfredo Lalanne suffered a back spasm on Sunday morning.
London Irish coach Toby Booth:
"Kennedy is a world-class line-out forward and he terrorised their line-out - and it provided us with a significant boost to see him outstrip their wing for the score. "We've trained with Lamb at nine, he grew into the game and some of his box kicks were exceptional." Harlequins head coach John Kingston:
"I am disappointed, we definitely came off second best. "The game hinged on the second quarter - we went into it 7-3 up and at half-time we were 19-7 down and lost three players through illness and injury. "Strettle has a groin injury and Jordan Turner-Hall was sick during the course of the game. "We lost six line-outs but they have the best defensive line-out bar none and we are missing a couple of key operators in Ollie Kohn and George Robson."
London Irish: Homer; Ojo, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Hewat; Malone, Lamb; Murphy, Paice, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Casey, Stowers, S Armitage, Hala'ufia. Replacements: Rudd for Ojo (73), Tideswell for Seveali'i (63), Catt for Mapusua (67), Buckland for Paice (57), Roche for Casey (67), Gibson for Hala'ufia (63). Not Used: Lahiff, Lennard. Harlequins: Brown; Strettle, Lowe, Turner-Hall, Smith; N Evans, Dickson; Jones, Cairns, Andress, Percival, Stevenson, Robshaw, Skinner, Guest. Replacements: Fuga for Strettle (35), Clegg for Turner-Hall (57), So'oialo for Dickson (66), Johnston for Andress (62), Valleyos Cinalli for Stevenson (62), York for Guest (69). Not Used: Croall, Mordt. Att: 12,373 Ref: Wayne Barnes (RFU).
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