London Irish and Quins seal back-to-back victories

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London Irish have continued their encouraging recent form with a hard-fought 32-26 bonus-point victory over Gloucester at Brentford.

Les Kiss’ side ran in five tries with veteran flanker Blair Cowan crossing twice with Ollie Hassell-Collins, Agustin Creevy and Tom Parton also touching down.


The game was nip and tuck throughout with the Exiles, who led for most of the match, unable to comfortably pull away from the cellar-dwelling Cherry and Whites, who closed the gap to 22-21 midway through the second half.

However, Parton’s try eight minutes from time, converted by Paddy Jackson, who then kicked a penalty, sealed the win despite a late five-pointer from Alex Craig for the visitors.

Irish, who beat Newcastle last week, move up to sixth in the table but face a daunting trip to defending champions Exeter next Saturday.

Harlequins also secured a second successive win, beating Bath 28-15 at The Rec thanks to tries from Alex Dombrandt, Aaron Morris and Danny Care.

In-form fly-half Marcus Smith kicked two penalties and a conversion as Quins moved up to fourth.