London Irish (14) 28
Tries: Tagicakibau 2 Pens: Lamb 4 Drop-goals: Lamb, Hewat
Wasps (6) 16
Try: Penalty Con: Cipriani Pens: Cipriani 3

Tagicakibau takes his season's try tally to five in three games

Two tries from Sailosi Tagicakibau saw London Irish move into second place in the Premiership with a hard-fought win over fellow high-flyers Wasps.

The Samoan winger touched down either side of the half-time, while Ryan Lamb kicked 15 points and Peter Hewat added a drop-goal for the Exiles.

A penalty try on 45 minutes saw Wasps close the deficit to one point before Tagicakibau added his second try.

Danny Cipriani kicked 11 points as Wasps dropped to fourth in the table.

The defeat also ended their 100% winning start to the season while Irish are within one point of Premiership leaders Saracens.

606: DEBATE Why is Paul Hodgson not playing for England? Joeyriles

With England manager Martin Johnson and assistants Brian Smith and Mike Ford in the stands at the Madejski Stadium, Exiles scrum-half Paul Hodgson enhanced his prospects for a first international cap for November's autumn internationals, alongside team-mate Lamb.

The hosts began in emphatic fashion as Seilala Mapusua's strong run set up full-back Hewat and he sent Tagicakibau over inside two minutes.

But Wasps began to settle as Cipriani landed two penalties, although the fly-half also missed two attempts at the posts.

Lamb hauled the Exiles back into the game with a drop-goal following excellent work from Adam Thompstone and Mapusua before adding two penalties to give the hosts a 14-6 lead at the interval.

A stirring half-time team-talk had its desired effect as Wasps were awarded a penalty try five minutes into the second half.

Dominic Waldouck was illegally brought down by Thompstone just as the Wasps centre was about to pounce on the loose ball on the tryline as he followed up his clever kick ahead.

Referee Dave Pearson had no hesitation awarding the score under the posts before sending winger Thompstone to the sin-bin, with Cipriani adding the conversion.

However, a long-range drop-goal by Hewat and a penalty from Lamb extended Irish's lead and victory was sealed on 62 minutes when Tagicakibau intercepted Ben Jacobs' pass for his fifth try of the season.

London Irish head coach Toby Booth on Paul Hodgson's contribution:
"It's a delight to have Paul on your side and in front of England selectors he's shown what he's good at.

"He has good core skills and can play with great clarity in high pressure games. He can be the midfield general.

"We must plan for life without him when the autumn internationals come around because I'm sure he'll be involved. England have their reasons for picking people in front of him, maybe because they want gamebreakers.

"But if they want someone who can contribute in a leadership aspect and in relationship to his own skill set, then he should be an automatic choice."

Wasps director of rugby Tony Hanks:
"We were beaten by the better team. They're the form side in the league and it showed you must be at your best to beat Irish at the Madejski Stadium.

"We weren't at our best but don't take anything away from Irish. Their left winger was outstanding and a real handful for us.

"While we have made good progress this season, this game has given us some things to think about in terms of how good the league is. They were up for it and towards the end of the game they got a sniff of it and really piled in."

London Irish: Hewat; Thompstone, Seveali'i, Mapusua, Tagicakibau; Lamb, Hodgson; Dermody, Paice, Ion, Kennedy, Casey, Danaher, S Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Richards for Seveali'i (63), Malone for Lamb (58), Lalanne for Hodgson (78), Murphy for Dermody (70), Coetzee for Paice (58), Rautenbach for Ion (58), Perry for Casey (58), Thorpe for Hala'ufia (63).

Sin Bin: Thompstone (46).

Wasps: Mitchell; Sackey, Jacobs, Waldouck, Varndell; Cipriani, Simpson; Payne, Webber, Vickery, Skivington, Birkett, Worsley, Betsen, Hart.
Replacements: Walder for Mitchell (59), Beech for Payne (66), Lindsay for Vickery (75), Baker for Birkett (76), Leo for Worsley (75), Ward-Smith for Betsen (59).
Not Used: Fury, Odejobi.

Sin Bin: Birkett (29).

Att: 13,967

Ref: Dave Pearson (Newcastle).

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