London Irish fullback Tom Homer bursts clear against Worcester © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

News: Exiles considering game in Boston

Matches: London Irish 42 - 24 Worcester Warriors

Tournaments/Tours: Aviva Premiership

Teams: London Irish | Worcester Warriors

Head coach Toby Booth praised a "professional performance" by London Irish as they danced past Worcester Warriors' tame defence for a bonus-point 42-24.

Fullback Tom Homer converted four of his side's five tries, added a couple of penalties and also crossed for one of those touchdowns himself. Centre Steve Shingler, No.8 Chris Hala'ufia, wing Adam Thompstone and centre Jonathan Joseph also went over for the Exiles while Worcester wings Marcel Garvey, with two, and Miles Benjamin got their touchdowns.

The win lifts Irish into a handy Premiership position, and Booth said: "What pleased me was the resilience we showed. We were never going to let that go. It was quite a professional performance. There were a couple of things that were sent to try us, with our number nine (Darren Allinson) getting sin-binned for example, and a well-drilled Worcester side, but we coped with those two things today.

"It is like a stuck record this season in that it is the Jonathan Joseph-Tommy Homer-Steve Shingler show. It is very encouraging for the future.

"Daniel Bowden is a nice box of tricks too and what was pleasing was his balance was very good. The thing about being a gifted footballer is sometimes you try a bit too hard yourself or you force the ball in attack and you bring defences onto you.

"But, on numerous occasions, he unlocks defences which are ruling the roost. To have someone who can do that is very important. The boys will be back from the World Cups soon so to have some extra resources as we have now will be fantastic for the club."

Irish's bonus-point win now puts them in the play-off spots in fourth. Booth added: "We want to be competitive and we would like to be in the top half.

"If you had given me a 50% win and losing bonus points in the rest of the matches up to now this season, then I would have taken it."

Worcester head coach Richard Hill is hoping his side soon rediscover their rock-solid defence, to add to the attacking flair his side showed.

The former England scrum-half said: "Our attack was much improved and the ball retention was excellent. We have been creating line breaks in previous matches but we had not been finishing them off and we finished three off today.

"There were another two or three clear-cut scoring chances in the first half as well. But, unfortunately, you fix one thing and something else goes.

"It was not the best defensive day we have had and I suppose you have an off-day in defence, but it was disappointing.

"If we could have had a rock-solid defence as it has been in recent weeks, to score three tries we would have been in with a chance of winning the game."