Irish win relegation battle

Newcastle Falcons plunged further into the relegation danger zone on Sunday after a 20-0 defeat to London Irish.

Rob Andrews' side have now conceded 10 league defeats this season and head into the new year firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with only 16 points.

London Irish, meanwhile, move six points clear of the bottom of the pile.

Neither side started well and, after missing two early penalties that could have handed London Irish an important six-point advantage, Barry Everitt managed to make amends with the first score of the afternoon after 36 minutes.

Newcastle made a costly error in a defensive line-out when hooker James Christian threw the ball long, to the surprise of his team-mates.

London Irish capitalised and earned themselves a scrum. Scrum-half Darren Edwards cleared Everitt, who chipped ahead and grounded the ball under the posts. This time the Irishman made no mistake, landing the conversion.