Leeds 7-56 London Irish

Leeds Carnegie (7) 7
Try: Myall Conversion: Thomas
London Irish (23) 56
Tries: Penalty, Hala'ufia 2, Thompstone 3 Tagicakibau Conversions: Lamb 6 Penalties: Lamb 3

Adam Thompstone scored a hat-trick for London Irish

London Irish earned their second bonus-point win of the season with a seven-try victory over Leeds to climb to third in the Guinness Premiership.

Irish led 23-7 at the break following a penalty try and a score from number eight Chris Hala'ufia, Ryan Lamb adding two conversions and three penalties.

Leeds managed a converted try from flanker Kearnan Myall but Irish roared clear with five second-half tries.

Adam Thompstone, with three, Hala'ufia and Sailosi Tagicakibau all crossed.

Thompstone's second-half hat-trick was completed in just 26 minutes while Lamb kicked 21 points in total as the Exiles claimed their second victory of the season in emphatic style.

It followed their 40-10 victory over Gloucester last weekend and Toby Booth's side, who were beaten by Leicester in last season's Premiership final, had too much quality for their hosts.

Leeds showed little as an attacking force until Myall intercepted an errant Irish pass from just inside his own half and raced under the posts for a try.

The only sour note for Irish was a first-half sin-binning for England lock Nick Kennedy, who was yellow-carded for shoving Leeds scrum-half Andy Gomarsall to the ground after connecting with his throat.

Leeds director of rugby Andy Key:
"If we continue to provide the opposition with so many opportunities it will be a hard-fought season for us.

"Do I think we will stay up? Absolutely. We conceded over 50 points today and no side is going to be happy with that -certainly our players and management aren't.

"We'll be looking to address those issues within the next 24 to 48 hours as we prepare to play Northampton next weekend.

"But we certainly still believe and we'll be measuring ourselves against the sides who we feel we can get a result against."

London Irish head coach Toby Booth:
"There's a mentality shift with the players because we have been learning lessons as we go, but there comes a point when you have to start doing things.

"This group want to kick on and that's why you saw that sort of performance today.

"The Premiership is a very, very difficult competition. There are some sides who are very well coached and very well financed, and it's a tough ask to win it.

"But we are in a position where we want to kick on and achieve things, and all the time we are continually improving."

Leeds Carnegie: Goodridge; Welding, Burrell, H Paul, Armstrong; Thomas, Gomarsall; Hardy, Ma'asi, Gomez, Lund, Pendlebury, Myall, Fourie, To'oala.
Replacements: Blackett for Welding (54), Mathie for Gomarsall (60), McGee for Gomez (52), D Paul for Myall (63), Clark for Fourie (52), Nilsen for To'oala (68).

Not Used: Moreno, Hepworth.

London Irish: Hewat; Thompstone, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Tagicakibau; Lamb, Hodgson; Murphy, Buckland, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Casey, Danaher, S Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Richards for Seveali'i (56), Malone for Mapusua (68), Lalanne for Hodgson (59), Paice for Buckland (56), Ion for Rautenbach (48), Perry for Casey (56).

Not Used: Dermody, Stowers.

Sin Bin: Kennedy (39).