Booth praise for Geraghty

Booth: Players responded well

We like to play with ball in hand - London Irish doesn't know any other way.

Toby Booth
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London Irish coach Toby Booth paid tribute to his players after they moved back to the top of the Guinness Premiership with a resounding 48-8 victory over Newcastle on Saturday.

The Exiles slipped up against Saracens last week and Booth was delighted with how the squad raised its game against a Falcons side struggling to find any kind of form.

"I am absolutely delighted with the response of the players from last Saturday," he said.

"The mark of any side that wants to compete for the play-offs is how it reacts to a poor performance.

"We like to play in every area of the pitch, and we adopt systems which enable us to do that. We like to play with ball in hand - London Irish doesn't know any other way."

And Booth paid tribute to fly-half Shane Geraghty, who dominated proceedings and gave the England selectors another nudge ahead of the Six Nations next month.

Brilliance

"For me, that is the best Shane has played this season," he added. "He brought his game-control, together with the individual brilliance he has. Shane asked a lot of questions of Newcastle in attack."

Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates admitted his side must bounce back quickly if they are to avoid getting involved in a relegation scrap with Bristol.

Irish ran-in seven tries in total and Bates was disappointed with his side's first half effort, in which they conceded four scores.

"It is tough and it was a bit embarrassing, but there was no shortage of effort or lack of application from the players," he said.

"Irish were the best side we have played against this season. Things went pretty much perfectly for them.

"From our perspective, the thing that troubled me was giving early points away. We didn't help ourselves - they scored two easy, straightforward tries.

"It is obviously a very disappointing day for us. We will have a good look at the video, and we've got to bounce back from it."