Booth has seen his team lose three times in the Premiership at home this season

Head coach Toby Booth gave his London Irish players the cold shoulder in the aftermath of their defeat to Leeds.

Booth told BBC Berkshire he needed some time to compose himself before speaking to them.

He said: "Sometimes actions speak louder than words. I had nothing positive to say.

"I didn't want to be emotional and react and ruffle feathers when a more measured approach is more pertinent going in to next week."

The 23-13 defeat to relegation-threatened Leeds leaves Irish fifth in the table, outside the play-off places, with two games remaining.

"It was a poor performance without question, 27 individual errors was our highest error count of the season," said Booth. "There were no surprises for us [in Leeds' commitment], we talked about it all week. Desperate people can achieve desperate things."

Booth added: "The table doesn't lie. I talk about that from a positive point of view, but it doesn't lie from a negative point of view either. The way to championship success and the play-offs is to make sure you win your home games and we've dropped too much at home.

"We have to look at the reasons why, and if - and it's a big if - mental application and leadership is part of it, I'll be taking strong measures to make sure that doesn't happen again."

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