Worcester 16 London Irish 25

Tries from Joe Ansbro, Delon Armitage and Tom Homer helped London Irish to a comfortable away victory over Worcester.

Neither team headed into the game in decent form. Worcester were looking to bounce back from a narrow home reverse against Exeter, while the Exiles had been edged out by Saracens a week earlier. Nine points were posted in the first ten minutes of the match, with Tom Homer booting Irish 6-0 in front before Andy Goode responded with a penalty for Worcester. The first try of the match came on 22 minutes when Ansbro finished well following sustained Exiles pressure. Homer added the extras. A second Andy Goode penalty cut the visitors' lead to seven points, but an unconverted Homer try five minutes before the interval put Irish further ahead. The five-pointer meant that Worcester needed to find points early in the second half if they were to give themselves a realistic chance of winning the game, but the Exiles defence held firm. And when Miles Benjamin did manage to cross for the hosts' first try on the hour, Irish were able to regroup and put the result beyond doubt thanks to a try from Armitage. The 28-year-old flyer collected a neat Andy Shingler ball to dive in under the posts for a crucial score, which Goode converted. That made it 25-11 to the Exiles with the minutes ticking away and, though Worcester were able to reduce the arrears with a try in the final minute of the game courtesy of Marcel Garvey, the visitors were worthy winners.