The bottom of the Premiership is a dogfight at the moment, and in this mangy mongrel of a game Irish worried Leicester like terriers for four points which took them off the bottom at the expense of Newcastle.

This was the biggest of just three wins in 17 meetings with the champions, and the psychological boost of a brace of late tries after hanging on for much of the 80 minutes could be critical in the long run.

Leicester, who are now nine points adrift of Gloucester, could point to the absence of nine players on international duty. But they were still able to field a heavy-duty pack which marauded powerfully, if sloppily, on a pitch so waterlogged that the game was close to being cancelled three hours before kick-off.

Time and again, however, the Tigers drove into the Irish 22, often with Perry Freshwater and Josh Kronfeld to the fore, only to find the green defence line in their faces, depriving them of space, and forcing the errors. The Exiles' effort and discipline was exemplified by the man of the match Paul Gustard, playing his first game against his old club after joining from Leicester in the spring.

"We weren't able to take control of the game," said the Leicester director of rugby Dean Richards. "The line-out didn't function, London Irish harried us, put us under pressure, we spilt a lot of ball, turned over a lot of ball, the kicking game wasn't good, nor were the timing and delivery of the ball and other bits and pieces." Those areas apart, the champions were in fine fettle.

Irish played their percentages well, with the kicking of Michael Horak and the scrum-half Darren Edwards constantly pegging Leicester back. But the star of the show was their fly-half Barry Everitt, whose 22 point haul took him to 1,018 points in just 69 games for the Exiles.

South Africa had a weekend to forget, but this win meant there were at least three happy Springboks - the Irish player-coach Brendan Venter, hooker Naka Drotske and wing Pieter Rossouw - in the Thames valley yesterday.

London Irish: Horak; Sackey, Burrows, Venter, Rossouw; Everitt, Edwards; Worsley (Hatley, 50min), Drotske, Hardwick (Halford, 47), Strudwick (capt), Kennedy, Gustard, Danaher, Sheasby.

Tries: Everitt, Horak. Con: Everitt. Pens: Everitt 4. DG: Everitt.

Leicester: Lloyd; Booth (Raynor, 71), Smith, Kafer, Tuilagi; Vesty, Ellis; Freshwater, West (capt; Chuter, 69), Garforth (Tournaire, 69), Deacon, Corry, Short, Kronfeld, Balding.

Try: Smith. Con: Booth.

Referee: A Rowden (Berkshire). Att: 10,605.