London Irish: David Paice says morale is 'good' at Exiles

David Paice made his senior England debut in 2008

London Irish hooker David Paice says the mood at the club is good, despite their recent poor run of results.

The Exiles have lost six consecutive games, including last weekend's defeat by Cardiff Blues in Europe and are second from bottom of the Premiership.

They face the Blues again this weekend, needing victory to likely guarantee qualification in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

When asked how morale was, Paice told BBC Radio Berkshire: "It's very good."

The 31-year-old added: "We are confident in our ability and the way we play and feel we took a big step forward against Cardiff.

"We are on the up, we started the season strongly, we had a dip but are back on the way up."

The Exiles lost 24-14 to Cardiff and are now second in their pool. Qualification for the knockout stages will go to the five pool winners and three best-placed runners-up.

And back Shane Geraghty believes the side are capable of avenging last weekend's loss and returning to the top of the group.

"I thought we played well in patches," he told BBC Radio Berkshire. "We made errors but as a squad we believe we should have won and that gives us confidence.

"We have got a big couple of weeks in Europe, we see this as a must-win and the boys are desperate to get out there."

And Geraghty added the squad were desperate to turn things around after a poor few weeks.

"We are frustrated where we are results-wise," he said. "November was a tough month, we need to stick together and remember we are not a bad team.

"The performance in Cardiff showed we are not going to go into our shells. We will fight hard and keep going and I'm sure those defeats will turn into wins."