London Irish smash Tigers
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: A dominant display by Premiership new-boys London Irish delivered a valuable 36-11 bonus-point win over Leicester Tigers at the Madejski Stadium.
The points came from everywhere for the Exiles with Oli Hoskins, wing Ben Loader and Ruan Botha getting over in the first half and Stephen Myler adding seven points with the boot.
Tigers had two first-half penalties to show for their efforts and got a late score for Jonah Holmes, but Irish continued to run riot after the break as Waisake Naholo and Tom Parton touched down.
All Black international Naholo, on his first appearance for Irish, got his debut try as he collected a Nick Phipps kick, kept his feet on the touchline and barrelled over the line.
The scorers:
For London Irish:
Tries: Hoskins, Loader, Botha, Naholo, Parton
Cons: Myler 3, Phipps
Pen: Myler
For Leicester Tigers:
Try: Holmes
Pens: Hardwick 2
Yellow card: Matt Rogerson (London Irish, 73)
Teams:
London Irish: 15 Paddy Jackson, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Terrence Hepetema, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Meehan, 8 Albert Tuisue, 7 TJ Ioane, 6 Blair Cowan, 5 Franco van der Merwe (captain), 4 Ruan Botha, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 2 Saia Fainga’a, 1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi.
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 George Nott, 20 Matt Rogerson, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Williams, 23 Tom Parton.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Jonah Holmes, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Tom Hardwick, 11 Jordan Olowofela, 10 Noel Reid, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Calum Green, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Tom Youngs (captain), 1 Greg Bateman.
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Nephi Leatigaga, 19 Tomás Lavanini, 20 Jordan Coghlan, 21 Ben White, 22 George Worth, 23 Sam Aspland-Robinson.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson & Paul Dix.
TMO: Sean Davey.
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