Exiles move off the basement
The victory saw the Exiles move off the bottom of the Premiership standings and the Falcons dropping to last place
* In the other Sunday match Frank Halai's last-gasp try set Wasps on course for a crucial 32-22 victory over Worcester Warriors in a thrilling encounter at the Ricoh Arena.
We look at Sunday's Premiership matches!
London Irish 20-15 Newcastle Falcons
Shane Geraghty's second-half introduction injected life into London Irish but the hosts were made to stave off a spirited Newcastle Falcons comeback before completing a crucial victory.
The victory saw the Exiles move off the bottom of the Premiership standings and the Falcons dropping to last place
After a first 40 which saw Irish flyhalf Chris Noakes slot two penalties, Alex Lewington collected Geraghty's kick-off and raced over in an explosive start to the second half.
Three minutes later Geraghty, who had immediately set about bringing flair to proceedings after replacing Noakes, then lofted skywards for Topsy Ojo to collect and dot down for his first try since March 2014.
Falcons responded through a try for Nili Latu before Andy Goode – making his first Premiership appearance since signing a short-term contract with Newcastle last month – came on for the visitors and kicked a penalty.
He converted Marcus Watson's 66th-minute score but the Exiles held on to move off the bottom of the table at the expense of Newcastle.
Though Newcastle started on top, Latu made a high tackle on Will Lloyd with eight minutes gone and former Auckland Blues flyhalf Noakes made no mistake from straight in front.
The hosts cut open the Falcons defence ten minutes later when Lewington came off his wing with a fantastic angle to join a flowing backs move.
He was dragged down ten metres short of the line, and the Falcons were offside from one of the resulting rucks, only for Noakes to badly miscue the penalty attempt.
Irish did extend their lead 11 minutes before half-time when Falcons prop Rob Vickers was adjudged to have collapsed a scrum and Noakes's penalty sailed straight through the uprights.
The Falcons thought they were on the scoreboard four minutes later when Topsy Ojo failed to deal with a grubber kick through, however Chris Harris could not quite get downward pressure on the ball.
The away side had the opportunity to close the gap to three points five minutes before half-time when the Exiles strayed offside at a line-out, but Craig Willis's kick was just wide of the posts from 35 metres out.
The second half started with a bang as Lewington rose above Harris to collect substitute Geraghty's restart and he ran into the corner unopposed to touch down. Geraghty then added the extras from out wide.
Geraghty then hung up the high ball Ojo, and despite the best attentions of Simon Hammersley, Irish's leading all-time try scorer managed to get the ball down. Geraghty made no mistakes with the extras to put his side 20 points ahead.
Falcons registered their first points in the 55th minute after a sustained period of pressure deep in Irish's 22,
Latu broke off the end of a driving maul and barged his way over, but Willis failed with his conversion attempt and the away side still trailed by 15 points.
Paice was sent to the sin-bin on the hour mark for a high tackle and Goode kicked the simple resulting penalty.
Watson scored his first Premiership try of the season six minutes later when ran onto the end of a Hammersley kick through. Goode's conversion sailed through the uprights but, despite late heavy pressure, Newcastle could not complete the turnaround.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Lewington, Ojo
Cons: Geraghty 2
Pens Noakes 2
For Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Latu, Watson
Con: Goode
Pen: Goode
Yellow card: David Paice (London Irish, 59)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Topsy Ojo, 14 Alex Lewington 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Ofisa Treviranus, 7 Luke Narraway, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Will Lloyd, 4 Matt Symons (captain), 3 Ben Franks, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16. Gerard Ellis, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Joe Trayfoot, 20 Blair Cowan, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Fergus Mulchrone.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Michael Young, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Nili Latu, 6 Will Welch (captain), 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Mark Wilson, 3 Paddy Ryan, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Taione Vea, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Todd Clever, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Andy Goode, 23 Belisario Agulla.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Greg Garner, Roy Maybank
TMO: Graham Hughes
Wasps 32-22 Worcester Warriors
Frank Halai's last-gasp try set Wasps on course for a crucial 32-22 victory over Worcester Warriors in a thrilling encounter at the Ricoh Arena.
Trailing 13-0 in the first half, and then by nine points heading into the last ten minutes, Wasps showed their resolve to come back, with Halai, a last-minute inclusion, finishing on the left after good work from Rob Miller.
And Wasps rubbed salt into the wounds with a fourth try in the final seconds from Sailosi Tagicakibau to seal an improbable bonus point, cruelly denying Worcester anything in the process.
Worcester were dealt an early blow when Sam Betty was forced off in the opening minutes to be replaced by Marco Mama, but they didn't let it affect them.
They took the lead after 11 minutes when Wasps were penalised at the breakdown, with winger Andy Symons slotting the three points.
He added another on the half-hour, with Ben Howard having also come on for Tom Biggs, as the visitors made the better start.
And things got even better for Worcester when Cooper Vuna picked off a pass and raced away for the opening try just before half-time.
Symons converted, but Wasps were almost responded immediately. Jimmy Gopperth thought he'd crossed right on the stroke of half-time but after consultation with the TMO he was deemed to have knocked on.
Wasps had an advantage though and Matt Cox was sin-binned for his troubles. Gopperth slotted the resulting penalty to cut the deficit to 13-3 at the break.
With the extra man Gopperth knocked over a second penalty early in the second half but that was it during the sin-bin period.
However almost immediately after Cox had returned, Wasps drew level. Miller, a late replacement for Charles Piutau, breaking through before sending Kearnan Myall over for the score. Gopperth converted from in front and Wasps looked to be in the ascendancy.
Worcester refused to fold though and they retook the lead with another Symons penalty just before the hour.
He added two more in quick succession, although Worcester will feel they could have done more when Vuna was stopped just short.
Still, leading 22-13, the win seemed to be very much on its way, however Wasps kept battling away.
They got their reward with ten minutes remaining when Guy Thompson went over from close range after an interminable period of pressure in the 22. Gopperth converted to make it 22-20.
Wasps then had their chance to win it, with Elliot Daly attempting a penalty from 45 metres out on the angle, but his effort went wide.
It didn't matter in the end though as Halai popped up at the death to win it before Tagicakibau's score completed a stunning comeback.
The scorers:
For Wasps:
Tries: Tagicakibau, Halai, Myall, Thompson
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pens: Gopperth 2
For Worcester Warriors:
Try: Vuna
Con: Symons
Pens: Symons 5
Yellow card: Matt Cox (Worcester Warriors, 36)
Teams:
Wasps: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Sam Jones, 7 George Smith, 6 James Haskell (captain), 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Brendan Macken.
Worcester Warriors: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Tom Biggs, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Andy Symons, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Ryan Mills, 9 Charlie Mulchrone, 8 Phil Dowson (captain), 7 Sam Betty, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Tevita Cavubati, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Nick Schooner, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Na'ama Leleimalefaga.
Replacements: 16 Ben Sowrey, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Marco Mama, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Tiff Eden, 23 Ben Howard.
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson, Wayne Falla
TMO: David Grashoff
Source: @premrugby
