London Welsh’s head coach Justin Burnell was distraught after their 11th Avviva Premiership loss of the season - a 24-9 defeat at London Irish, despite an improvement from last week’s record 78-7 defeat at Saracens.

“It was a game we wanted to win so we are bitterly disappointed,” he said.

“I felt that some stages in the game we could have won it, especially after last week's debacle. Today we saw a little bit more of a level playing field.

“Even when it was 17-9 I felt we were in it.

“They are a very resilient bunch across the board, the players, the staff, everyone involved.

“The disappointment now becomes more frustration as last week we were just hammered."

London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith lauded the work of his combative forwards as his side sealed their first home league win of the season.

“It is mixed emotions really as I thought with ten minutes to go we were within a real shout of squeezing a bonus point from that game,” said the former Oxford Blue.

“The victory today was purely off the back of the forwards. The rain was heavy, the pitch was very slippy and we clearly went in with a drive focus.”

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