Worcester triumph in basement battle with London Irish

Survival hopes appear slim for London Irish following a 23-8 defeat to Premiership relegation rivals Worcester Warriors at Sixways on Friday.

Worcester held a six-point lead over Irish as the two sides occupied the bottom two places in the league heading into the weekend.

But that gap now stands at a daunting 10 points for Irish after Worcester made a flying start to the encounter – a record 191st for referee Wayne Barnes in the competition.

Josh Adams crossed after five minutes and five points from the boot of Chris Pennell opened up a 10-0 advantage, before Alex Lewington helped reduce the deficit to two at half-time with a superb solo try.

That proved to be the sum of the Irish challenge, however, as Adams touched down again early in the second half and Worcester racked up 13 unanswered points.