London Irish (6) 33
Tries: D Armitage, Tagicakibau, penalty, Ojo Cons: Lamb 2 Pens: Lamb 3

Saracens (10) 16
Tries: Joubert, Brits Pens: Hougaard 2

Delon Armitage (left) and Salosi Tagicakibau (right) scored during a ten-minute spell of Irish's second-half comeback

London Irish staged a devastating second-half comeback to secure a bonus-point win over last season's losing Premiership finalists Saracens.

Ernst Joubert's try opened the scoring for Sarries before Ryan Lamb kicked a penalty for the Exiles.

Schalk Brits muscled over before Lamb struck again just before half time.

Irish then came alive with tries from Delon Armitage, Sailosi Tagicakibau, a penalty try and Tospy Ojo to outscore Saracens 27-6 after the break.

In a game that saw four yellow cards - two on each side - Joubert crossed in the corner after some slick handling from Brits and Chris Wyles while Delon Armitage sat on the sidelines after a professional foul.

Alex Goode, who was starting the game at fly-half, missed with the conversion and it was to prove the opening act of a disappointing performance for one of Sarries' star performers of last season.

Joubert provided the impetus for the second try with a penetrating break from the base of the scrum on Exiles' 22 before Brits handed off Delon Armitage, just back on the field, to score. Goode again failed to add the extras.

606: DEBATE LI looked like the good side they are. If they can avoid injuries they will finish top 4. Saracens need to go back to the drawing board, and the game against Sale next week is important. DaveM

Lamb hit two penalties in a first half dominated by defences that ended 10-6.

Irish came out for the second half flying as winger Tagicakibau was brought down just short of the line after a dancing break.

The men in green maintained the pressure and when Goode knocked down Lamb's pass from an offside position he was the second man of the afternoon to see yellow.

Lamb converted the resultant penalty - albeit off the upright - but with the man advantage Irish upped the pace, dragging Saracens back and forth across the pitch.

Steffon Armitage combined with his brother Delon to send the England full-back into the left corner.

Irish smelt blood and three minutes later Lamb spotted space out left and launched an inch-perfect cross-field kick that slotted into Tagicakibau's arms for him to saunter over unchallenged.

The ex-Gloucester stand-off added the conversion to make it 15 unanswered points by London Irish after the turnaround.

Goode returned at full-back with Derick Hougaard assuming the fly-half role and the South African converted two penalties.

Paul Hodgson was sin binned after he deliberately knocked on Brad Barritt's pass to put Goode clear but Saracens could not take advantage.

A fourth yellow card was shown after Kevin Barrett lost a foot race for a loose ball with Ojo and he pushed the Irish winger in the back as he went in to score.

Lamb converted the easy conversion from the penalty try and Ojo was on hand again in the final act of the match to stroll over and secure the five-point win for Irish.

Saracens director of rugby Brendan Venter:
"The [Alex Goode] sin-binning swung the game - it was the issue today.

"I'll get myself into trouble if I debate the decision. We'll look at it again on Monday.

"Of course it was an issue. It was 10-6 at half-time then the sin-bin came and then we conceded 15 points.

"Give Irish some credit during the sib-binning, they started slow in the first half but got better.

"But the score was not a fair reflection of the game - that was a close match which was swung by other things."

London Irish head coach Toby Booth responded:
"When Paul Hodgson was sin-binned they had a chance to get back into the game.

"We had two chances in four minutes and took them both. If you don't take your chances you get punished, but we did.

"The bottom line is four tries, a bonus point win and we move on. Brendan's view is irrelevant to me. The referee was consistent."

London Irish: D. Armitage, Ojo, Seveali'i, Bowden, Tagicakibau, Lamb, Hodgson, Dermody, Paice, Rautenbach, Roche, Casey, Danaher, S. Armitage, Stowers.
Replacements: Malone for Seveali'i (71), Mapusua for Bowden (61), Joseph for Tagicakibau (60), Buckland for Paice (44), Corbisiero for Rautenbach (41), Kennedy for Roche (61), Garvey for Casey (61).
Sin Bin: S. Armitage (22), Hodgson (63).

Saracens: Wyles, Cato, Powell, Barritt, Tagicakibau, Goode, Wigglesworth, Gill, Brits, Nieto, Vyvyan, Botha, K. Brown, Burger, Joubert.
Replacements: Hougaard for Cato (54), Ratuvou for Powell (51), Barrett for Goode (68), Carstens for Gill (51), Reynecke for Brits (75), Du Plessis for Nieto (51), Kruis for Botha (51), Melck for K. Brown (71).
Sin Bin: Goode (44), Barrett

Att: 75,112

Ref: Andrew Small (RFU).

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