Leeds close in on safety

Leeds virtually ensured themselves of another season in the top flight with a 23-13 Guinness Premiership victory over London Irish.

The win takes leads up to ninth while Exiles will be kicking themselves for missing numerous opportunities to turn territory into points as they were stifled by a driven Leeds defence.

Irish looked to take the game to the visitors early on and Chris Malone booted the first points of the match in the fifth minute, but Tom Homer failed to double the lead with a long-distance effort in the 11th minute.

Leeds took advantage of the miss, charging upfield and catching the Irish defence offside on their own 22, Ceiron Thomas levelling from the resulting penalty.

But parity did not last long as Eric Lund was penalised for barging at the lineout and Malone nailed the three-pointer from the right hand side.

But Leeds were fighting for their Premiership lives and provided tough resistance, levelling for the second time on 21 minutes through Thomas' boot.

And they could have gone ahead shortly afterwards when Henry Fa'afili kicked ahead of a ruck on the right and broke towards the line, but was hauled down short and the move came to nothing.

Tries

Thomas put them in the lead for the first time following another offside infringement just after the half-hour mark and then the visitors crossed for the first of their two tries.

Delon Armitage dropped a high ball and Leeds centre Luther Burrell reacted fastest, picking up the loose ball before side-stepping Irish full-back Peter Hewat to score next to the post.

Thomas added the extras but it came as little surprise when the hosts responded almost immediately, Hewat being sent over by Jamie Gibson before Malone converted to leave Exiles three points behind at the break.

Leeds came out for the second-half looking stronger and could have extended their advantage but for some poor decision-making with the try-line in sight.

Thomas missed a drop-goal attempt which let the Exiles off the hook following a lengthy period of pressure and the hosts spent much of the final third of the match camped out in the opposition 22.

However, they failed to score despite winning four penalties - each time opting for the scrum - and were made to pay when Lee Blackett intercepted a loose pass in the 70th minute before sending Jon Goodridge in for the crucial score.

Thomas made it a personal tally of 13 points with the extras to put the visitors out of sight.