London Irish (29) 48
Tries: Ojo, Armitage, Danaher, Hewat, Corbisiero, Catt, Mapusua Cons: Hewat 4, Geraghty Pen: Hewat

Newcastle (3) 8
Try: Visser Pen: Clegg

Alex Corbisiero (right) celebrates his try early in the second half

London Irish stormed back to the top of the Premiership table with a ruthless seven-try demolition of Newcastle.

Peter Hewat secured a bonus point for the Exiles with a fourth try after just 29 minutes as Newcastle's defence was overrun by a rampant home outfit.

Topsy Ojo, Steffon Armitage and Declan Danaher also crossed as London Irish took a huge 29-3 lead into half-time.

Alex Corbisiero, Mike Catt and Seilala Mapusua added to Newcastle's misery, with Tim Visser grabbing a consolation.

Newcastle remain just one place above Bristol at the foot of the table, and their display against the in-form Exiles did little to allay fears that they are in for a prolonged fight against relegation.

The Falcons defence was no match for one of the Premiership's most potent attacking units, with Exiles fly-half Shane Geraghty and number eight Chris Hala'Ufia running riot.

The visitors actually made a reasonably bright start to the match, with winger John Rudd denied by some last-ditch defending.

But the Exiles soon began to stretch clear as Hewat's opening penalty was followed by Ojo's interception try from halfway.

606: DEBATE Irish do look very very good at the moment - the way they want to play the game is brilliant and I hope the England coaches are taking note dammit_chris

With Brian Smith, the former London Irish coach who is now looking after England's attack, watching from the stands, the home side allowed Armitage to go over unopposed from the back of a short-range lineout.

A few minutes later Danaher dashed through an inviting gap for a third and Hewat wrapped up a bonus point after getting on the end of a delightful pass from centre Elvis Seveali'i.

It was more of the same after the break as Exiles prop Corbisiero smashed through some weak Falcons defence for a fifth try.

The 37-year-old Catt arrived off the bench as the Exiles made numerous changes, and Newcastle's task got even more difficult when substitute scrum-half Micky Young was sin-binned.

Catt capitalised on more shoddy Newcastle defence for his side's sixth try, although Visser's opportunist effort did finally breach the Exiles' defence on 71 minutes.

Mapusua finished things off with a powerful score to give London Irish the biggest winning margin of the Premiership season.

London Irish coach Toby Booth:

"I'm absolutely delighted with the response of the players from last weekend.

"The mark of any side that wants to compete for the play-offs is how it reacts to a poor performance.

"We like to play in every area of the pitch. We like to play with ball in hand - we don't know any other way."

Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates:

"It is tough and a bit embarrassing, but there was no shortage of effort from the players.

"From our perspective, the thing that troubled me was giving early points away. We didn't help ourselves - they scored two easy, straightforward tries.

"It is obviously a very disappointing day for us. We've got to bounce back."

London Irish: Hewat, Ojo, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Homer, Geraghty, Hodgson, Corbisiero, Paice, Lea'aetoa, Hudson, Casey, Danaher, S. Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Catt for Hewat (53), Gower for Seveali'i (60), Lalanne for Hodgson (60), D. Murphy for Corbisiero (53), Buckland for Paice (60), Roche for Casey (45), Thorpe for S. Armitage (53).

Newcastle: May, Visser, Noon, Tu'ipulotu, Rudd, Clegg, Grindal, Ward, Thompson, Hayman, Parling, Sorenson, Dowson, B. Wilson, Balding.
Replacements: D. Williams for Rudd (64), Jones for Clegg (60), Young for Grindal (45), D. Wilson for Ward (41), Vickers for Thompson (41), Williamson for Balding (53).

Not Used: Swinson.

Sin Bin: Young (56).

Ref: C Berdos (France).

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