London Irish go down to Sharks

Sharks 36, London Irish 14

The Sharks overcame a poor first half to secure a comfortable victory over London Irish at Heywood Road this afternoon.

Mel Deane, Chris Jones, Mark Cueto and Steve Hanley touched down for tries after the interval to overcome a brave effort from the Exiles, whose misery was compounded by the 74th minute dismissal of substitute James Cockle.

Hanley made the most of the Exiles’ ailing resistance to touch down in the left corner in the 69th minute, but the Sharks had a third player sin-binned - Alex Sanderson - for being on the wrong side of the ruck.

But the numbers were evened up almost immediately after when London Irish substitute James Cockle was shown a straight red card for stamping.

Hodgson booted a drop-goal before Cueto rounded off the afternoon by crossing in injury-time, securing a try-scoring bonus point.