Premiership: London Irish 12-19 London Wasps

London Wasps earned a narrow victory over struggling London Irish.

Andy Goode and James O'Connor traded penalties before Wasps were awarded a penalty try for a deliberate knock-on by latter, who was sin-binned.

Goode converted while Shane Geraghty sent over a penalty for Irish as the visitors led 13-9 at half-time.

A Goode penalty and one from O'Connor made it 16-12 before Wasps' fly-half sealed it with a drop-goal despite a late sin bin for Charlie Hayter.

The game marked Topsy Ojo's 200th appearance for London Irish but the Exiles could not mark the occasion with victory as they suffered their sixth successive defeat in all competitions.

A tight opening in which Goode and O'Connor sent over a pair of penalties was shaded by Wasps, who had the majority of possession and territory.

Eventually they began to stretch the Irish defence and were awarded a penalty try after Goode's cross kick was deliberately knocked on by Australian O'Connor with Elliot Daly waiting to score. O'Connor was sin-binned and Goode converted to give the visitors a 13-6 lead.

Geraghty, who took over the kicking duties with O'Connor off the field, kept Irish within touching distance before the break with a penalty, although Goode restored Wasps' seven-point lead three minutes into the second half.

With 15 minutes to go O'Connor converted a penalty to reduce the gap to four but missed one from distance a minute later.

Goode eased Wasps' nerves with a late drop-goal but despite intense pressure, which saw Irish camped on their opponents' tryline the visitors held on, even though they lost Hayter to the sin bin.

VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith:

"It was very frustrating. They had a simple game plan and, to be fair to them, the mugged us on our own turf.

"They kicked long, they scrummed for penalties on their ball and they flooded the tackle area and you could just see the frustration as we couldn't get going.

"Uncharacteristically, we turned the ball over as well and made some handling errors, which we were flawless in last week.

"I felt it was probably our poorest performance of the season and to have that happen at home is disappointing."

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young:

"It was nowhere near a perfect performance - we still made some mistakes, which put us under pressure - but I thought the players showed real courage and commitment to each other.

"They showed how much they wanted to get the victory with their display during those last three minutes on our line. If you give someone that amount of possession half a yard from your line it's probably easier to score than not.

"We were honest after last week. I expected a reaction. I wanted to see how much they wanted to wear the jersey and I thought they reacted really well. They showed the commitment and attitude I expect."

Saturday's line-ups

London Irish: O'Connor, Ojo, Mulchrone, Sheridan, Lewington, Geraghty, O'Leary, Yapp, Stevens, Halavatau, Skivington, Gough, Sinclair, Cowan, Hala'ufia.

Replacements: Allinson for O'Leary (62), Hagan for Yapp (54), Parr for Stevens (54), Rouse for Gough (64), Treviranus for Hala'ufia (41).

Not Used: Mayhew, Armitage, Dorrian.

Sin Bin: O'Connor (34).

Wasps: Daly, Wade, C. Bell, Hayter, W. Helu, Goode, Davies, Mullan, Festuccia, Cooper-Woolley, Launchbury, Myall, Haskell, Thompson, Jones.

Replacements: Carlisle for Wade (75), Simpson for Davies (61), McIntyre for Mullan (71), Cochrane for Festuccia (67), Vea for Cooper-Woolley (71), Jackson for Thompson (61).

Not Used: Palmer, Jacobs.

Att: 7,210

Ref: Dean Richards (RFU).