European Challenge Cup
London Irish canter past Connacht
Scrum.com
January 17, 2009
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Date/Time: Jan 17, 2009, 15:00 local, 15:00 GMT
London Irish 75 - 5 Connacht
London Irish flanker Steffon Armitage powers through the Connacht defence, London Irish v Connacht, European Challenge Cup, Madejski Stadium, Reading, England, January 17 2009
Steffon Armitage grabbed one of London Irish's 11 tries
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London Irish claimed their biggest winning margin in Europe with an emphatic 75-5 victory over Connacht at the Madejski Stadium.

Full-back Peter Hewat scored five tries as the Exiles crossed 11 times against the Irish province, Shane Geraghty converting 10, in Pool One of the European Challenge Cup. Flanker Steffon Armitage opened the scoring after just four minutes before James Hudson, Hewat, Chris Hala'ufia and James Bailey all followed before half-time.

Danny Riordan scored Connacht's only points though Hewat made sure there was no let up with a second score after 50 minutes before grabbing a hat-trick in the space 15 minutes. Topsy Ojo added two more to ensure the Exiles a home tie in the quarter-finals.

Toby Booth's team can now look forward to the quarter-finals after their fifth bonus-point win of the campaign, while Connacht will need a bonus-point win over Dax at the Sportsground next week to keep alive any hopes of progressing as a best runner-up.

London Irish: Peter Hewat; Topsy Ojo; Seilala Mapusua; Shane Geraghty; James Bailey; Mike Catt; Paul Hodgson; Clarke Dermody; David Paice, Richard Skuse; James Hudson; Bob Casey (capt); Richard Thorpe; Steffon Armitage, Chris Hala'Ufia

Replacements: Dan Murphy; Danie Coetzee; Tonga Lea'aetoa; Gary Johnson; Declan Danaher; Warren Fury; Elvis Seveali'

Connacht: D Riordan; Mike Roberts, J Hearty, M Deane, T Nathan; A Dunne, K Campbell; J Lyne, A Flavin (C), R Loughney; M Swift, A Farley; A Browne, D Gannon, C Rigney.

Replacements: J Merrigan, B McGovern, M McCarthy, J Muldoon, C O'Loughlin, I Keatley, M Roberts.

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