Bristol Bears lost the battle of the two bottom sides of the Gallagher Premiership heading into the match to stay stuck at the foot of the standings.
In torrential conditions, London Irish comfortably won 23-7 at the Gtech Community Stadium against an undisciplined Bristol side thanks to tries from Benhard van Rensburg and Ben White and 13 points from the boot of fly-half Rory Jennings.
Bristol were the first to cross the try line through Harry Thacker, converted by AJ MacGinty, but that was a rare moment of cutting edge from a blunt attacking display.
READ MORE: London Irish 23-7 Bristol Bears LIVE: Reaction from defeat the Gtech Community Stadium
Bears director of rugby Pat Lam said: “I am very disappointed, I think the penalty count is 19-7, we had 30 percent territory and possession. We just couldn’t get into the game, and that is credit to London Irish.
“We were chasing the game in challenging conditions but just couldn’t get going with our indiscipline and our lineout faltering. You can’t geta foot-hold in the game when you are on the wrong side of the penalty count.”
Heading into the game Lam made five changes to the side that won 15-12 at Harlequins last time out. Ellis Genge, who missed the Christmas match due to the birth of his second child, returned in the front row along with Kyle Sinckler who has recovered from a groin injury suffered on England duty in the Autumn Nations Cup against South Africa.
In the backline, Welsh international Ioan Lloyd was drafted in at inside centre - which the club consider his best position moving forward - while winger Toby Fricker and former Worcester Warriors full-back Noah Heward both recovered from injuries to take spots in the three quarters with the latter filling in for the injured Charles Piutau.
London Irish were forced into a late change to their match day squad as Irish international fly-half Paddy Jackson was forced to withdraw with a tight calf, but his replacement Jennings took the opportunity to shine.
It was Jennings who opened the scoring after seven minutes from the tee after Jake Heenan was penalised for playing the ball on the floor. That set an unfortunate tone.
The Bears then took the lead through Thacker as the hooker spotted an unguarded area next to a ruck as Jennings was caught napping in the guard position, and sniped through to finish under the sticks for MacGinty to to knock over the easy extras.
Bristol’s indiscipline cost them dearly throughout, conceding 11 by the interval to allow the hosts repeated field position and after 28 minutes the Exiles struck having kicked into the 22.
Irish sent big runners down the middle of the park to force the Bears to narrow their defence and then, despite the incredibly wet conditions, the hosts moved the ball smartly through four pairs of hands to give Benhard van Rensburg an easy run in near the right corner flag.
In the 43rd minute of the half, the hosts struck again from another lineout as scrum half White made an initial line break before linking up with lock Rob Simmonds who was bravely felled just short of the tryline by Gabriel Ibitoye. But Scottish international White spotted enough room down the blindside to pick and go and dot the ball down on the line despite the best efforts of Genge.
Bristol’s fortunes did not improve after the break as they conceded a penalty straight off the restart after Magnus Bradbury let the ball bounce before booting it into Steven Luatua in an offside position. Jennings punished the visitors from the tee again.
The second half was desperately lacking in continuity for the visitors with offloads and passes not sticking and referee Christophe Ridley repeatedly penalising them at the breakdown. The result was almost 40 minutes of defending bravely, but the sight of talisman Semi Radradra being run over by replacement Chandler Cunningham-South rather summed up the contrasting performances of the two sides.
In the 75th minute, having missed a shot a few minutes earlier, Jennings knocked over his third penalty of the game to put the result beyond doubt at 23-7.
The Bears now turn their attention to the European Challenge Cup and an away trip to Italian side Zebre.
London Irish: 15 Ben Loader, 14 Lucio Cinti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Rory Jennings, 9 Ben White, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Mike Willemse, 3 Lovejoy Chawatama, 4 Chunya Munga, 5 Rob Simmons (c), 6 Josh Basham, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Matt Rogerson.
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Oliver Hoskins, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Chandler Cunningham-South, 22 Joe Powell, 23 James Stokes.
Bristol Bears: 15. Noah Heward, 14. Toby Fricker, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Ioan Lloyd, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Joe Batley, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Jake Heenan, 8. Magnus Bradbury
Replacements: 16. Jake Kerr, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Tom Whiteley, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Jack Bates
Referee: Christophe Ridley (64 th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees : Hamish Smales and Gareth Holsgrove.
TMO: David Rose.
Citing Officer: Danae Zamboulis.
Attendance: 7,026
