London Irish: David Paice admits performance 'embarrassing' at Northampton

David Paice (centre) congratulated winger Alex Lewington on his two first-half tries at Northampton

London Irish hooker David Paice has labelled their surrendering of a lead against Northampton "embarrassing".

Irish's 14-3 half-time advantage was overturned within eight minutes of the restart and they eventually lost 25-17.

"We were nowhere near where we needed to be and we weren't at the races," Paice told BBC Radio Berkshire.

A 14th successive defeat of the Premiership campaign left the Exiles 16 points adrift at the bottom of the table with just seven games remaining.

"The first half was probably one of our best performances of the season," 34-year-old Paice said.

"But the way we came out in the second half was probably one of the worst performances, or at least the worst 10 minutes, I've ever been involved in.

"Considering what was at stake, it was very hard to take."

Irish already look relegation certainties in their first season back in the top flight despite facing second-from-bottom Worcester next on Sunday.

Warriors go into that game at the Madejski Stadium with two consecutive wins against Exeter and Gloucester.

"We pretty much need seven wins from seven now." Paice admitted. "While there's a chance, there's no point in feeling sorry for ourselves.

"There's a huge hill to climb, but there's no point in just giving up. There's a big game coming up Sunday and we'll take it one game at a time."