Naholo scores on debut as London Irish beat Leicester Tigers 36-11

London Irish 36-11 Leicester Tigers, Madejski Stadium
Scorecard

Waisake Naholo made a memorable debut for London Irish as they completed a 36-11 bonus point victory over Leicester Tigers in the fourth round of Gallagher Premiership at Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

The win has taken the Exiles to the seventh place in the table with 10 points while the Tigers are languishing at the bottom with four points.

The home side got off to a fantastic start as Oli Hoskins touched down in the eighth minute and Ben Loader followed the suit in the 20th minute. Stephen Myler, who missed the first conversion added the extras on the second as the Exiles raced to 12 points.

Centre Tom Hardwick with back to back penalties in the 15th and 27th minutes narrowed down the gap to six points but the home side finished the first half strong with Ruan Botha's try at the stroke of half-time and a penalty goal and conversion apiece on either side taking the scoreline to 22-6 heading into the break.

Both the teams were desperate to start the second half well but could not manage a point in the third quarter before Naholo on his London Irish debut collected a kick from Nick Phipps to dot down in the 64th minute to help them claim the bonus point and Myler's conversion made the scoreline 29-6.

London Irish had to play with one player less in the final seven minutes when Matt Rogerson was sin-binned but despite that they managed to get their fifth try through Tom Parton followed by a consolation try from Jonah Holmes that reduced Leicester Tigers' losing margin to 25 points.