Premiership: London Irish move off the bottom

London Irish held off a Newcastle Falcons fightback to climb off the foot of the Premiership table after a 20-15 victory at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

Irish sat three points adrift of Newcastle heading into the match but led 6-0 at the break through two Chris Noakes penalties.

Tries from Alex Lewington and Topsy Ojo early in the second period - both converted by Shane Geraghty - put daylight between the sides, but the Falcons rallied to set up a tense finish.

Nili Latu reduced the deficit by going over in the corner, before Andy Goode - who signed for Irish during the close-season but then retired without playing a game, before reversing his decision to join Newcastle - added a three-pointer from the tee.

Marcus Watson's converted try pulled Newcastle to within five points, but the visitors were unable to prevent themselves from slipping to the foot of the table.

In the day's other match, Wasps produced a late flurry to clinch a 32-22 bonus-point win against Worcester Warriors.

A Cooper Vuna try helped Worcester race into a 13-0 lead, but Wasps were level 10 minutes into the second half after trailing by 10 at the interval.

Andy Symons' boot helped re-establish a cushion as Worcester moved 22-13 in front, before Guy Thompson fired the first warning signal that Wasps were plotting a fightback.

His converted try pulled Wasps within two points, before two touchdowns in the last two minutes snatched victory from the grasp of the visitors.

Frank Halai and Sailosi Tagicakibau went over to complete the turnaround, while Jimmy Gopperth rubbed salt in the wound with a closing conversion.

The result sees Wasps climb to sixth, while Worcester are 10th, just five points above basement club Newcastle.