Irish stamp their authority at Lane

The Exiles sped home 38-10, with 21 unanswered points after a tight first half which saw the Clifton Lane men edge possession.

But even though they were unable to build on a Joe Graham score, plus a conversion and penalty from Caolan Ryan, Burnell cast aside the disappointment of a home defeat to eke out plenty of plus points.

"I thought we were good at times against a very strong Irish side," he said. "The pack was strong and there were three penalties to touch which we didn't capitalised upon.

"But it's a young, developing team and we have to be happy with the way we performed. There were plenty of good things for us."

Irish led early on through a Joe Cokanasiga try and a conversion and a penalty from Tommy Bell.

And when Cokanasiga put Bell through for the second converted score after 17 minutes - a point a minute -  it looked bleak for the hosts.

But they came back strongly and bossed play for the second quarter of the game, Graham pulling points back after peeling from a drive to the line and a Ryan penalty then gave them plenty of hope for the second period.

Irish, though, aren't storming away at the top without reason. They quickly reasserted their authority and two tries from Bell and Cokanasiga again put the game beyond Rotherham, Scott Steele wrapping it up with a fifth late on.