Ellis delights in Exiles' defence

Ellis remains the defence coach of the France national side

London Irish defence coach Dave Ellis says the Exiles' win in Dublin against Leinster ranks amongst the best defensive performances he has seen.

Irish beat the reigning European Champions 12-9 in the tryless match.

And Ellis, who also works as France's defence coach, told BBC Berkshire he was delighted with the performance.

"It's in my top ten, and all the others are internationals games. You'd put that alongside beating the All Blacks in the World Cup in 2007," Ellis said.

The Exiles' defence coach added that, having seen Irish running in tries in other games, he was pleased to see the team prove its defensive qualities.

We have to learn the lessons of last week - this is another very difficult game against very difficult opponents.

Dave Ellis

"When it's open, London Irish are exceptional. When there's an opportunity to score tries, they score tries.

"But when you take a step up to Heineken Cup level, and further to international level, then it's a different story.

"Against a top quality side like Leinster, the Heineken Cup champions, in their own back yard with all their Lions available and playing, then the opportunities to score tries are few and far between. But their opportunities were also few and that's the important thing."

Irish face Llanelli Scarlets next in the Heineken Cup and Ellis said they would not be taking the Welsh side lightly.

"We have to learn the lessons of last week. This is another very difficult game against very difficult opponents.

"Llanelli may have been struggling but there are some quality players in the side.

"They're coming off a win against my old club Brive and scored a couple of tries, which is not easy to do.

"They have the players which means if we're not very careful, if we don't attack the game like we did last Friday night, we'll come unstuck and all the work we did on Friday will be for nothing."

London Irish versus Llanelli Scarlets kicks off at 1500 BST on Saturday 17 October and is live on BBC Berkshire.