Premiership: London Irish 37-22 Northampton - Exiles win to move up to fourth

Tom Pearson scored the Exiles' second try

London Irish's Premiership renaissance continued with a crucial home win over Northampton Saints.

The Exiles were bottom in December but leapfrogged the visitors into fourth after their sixth win in seven matches.

Paddy Jackson booted 17 points, but Irish should really have won by a wider margin at a packed Gtech Community Stadium, spurning several chances.

Saints now face a struggle to secure a semi-final berth with two games left, the first against leaders Saracens.

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Jackson, the Premiership's leading scorer, pushed a routine early penalty chance wide but some concerted Exiles pressure ended with So'otala Fa'aso'o bulldozing over from close range.

Fin Smith slotted a penalty to reduce the deficit but Tom Pearson bustled through some tentative tackles to dive over for his sixth try in 10 league games on 18 minutes.

Jackson added the conversion and the Exiles looked like running riot, but Saints asserted themselves and after a clever change of direction, Juarno Augustus barged over on 32 minutes.

Juarno Agustus scored for Northampton

Tommy Freeman was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on soon after, but the short-handed Saints defence held firm and somehow held up Agustin Creevy after a quick line-out in the corner.

Jackson's penalty just before the break took him past 200 points for the campaign and gave the hosts a 17-10 advantage at the break.

Within two minutes of the turnaround Ben Loader high-stepped his way along the sideline to dot down under the posts, with Jackson notching the extras.

Freeman spotted a gap and hared through for another eye-catching individual try to drag the visitors back into it just after the hour.

But moments later Chunya Munga plunged over for his first Premiership try to secure the Exiles bonus point and make it 31-17.

Henry Arundell should have extended the lead but spilled the ball forwards as he dived over the line, but Jackson landed a monster drop-goal from near halfway to make the game safe.

Lewis Ludlam crashed over to reduce the deficit but Jackson's long-range penalty completed the scoring.

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney:

"There's no pressure, and there's nothing expected of us, so we've said we'd enjoy the journey.

"I'm sure if you ran down to some of the betting offices you wouldn't get many that said we had a good chance of making it to the top four with three games to go, but what about it?

"We probably had more opportunities and took them than we let them have, and that was a big difference in the game.

"We have the challenge of it being four weeks to go until our next match, but now is the time to enjoy the moment. We have to find a way to be ready in four weeks time to take on the league leaders [Saracens] on their home patch."

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson:

"We knew it was a huge opportunity and we were playing a good side, but not enough of our game was at the requisite level.

"We didn't perform well enough for long enough periods which is a bit of a headscratcher because at times at home we've been really good, and away from home we haven't.

"I don't think we were lacking energy, we've worked on our defensive alignment, got into good spaces and then didn't complete enough tackles or slow them down.

"We've got a week off next week to regather and recover for Saracens and Newcastle and make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity."

London Irish: Loader; Cinti, van Rensburg, Jennings, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, O'Sullivan; Fischetti, Creevy, Hoskuins, Ratuniyarawa, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Pearson, Fa'aso'o.

Replacements: Willemse, Haffar, Chawatama, Munga, Gonzalez, Cunningham-South, Powell, Arundell.

Northampton: Furbank; Ramm, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Freeman; F Smith, Mitchell; A Waller, R Smith, Davison, Ribbans, Moon, Salakaia-Loto, Ludlam (capt), Augustus.

Replacements: Cruse, E Waller, Hill, Scott-Young, Graham, James, Litchfield, Collins.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

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