Exiles downed by Toulon

London Irish crashed to their sixth straight defeat in all competitions as they were beaten 19-13 by Heineken Cup Pool 3 rivals Toulon at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

The Exiles looked like a team short on confidence and were second best for much of the afternoon against a disciplined and physical Toulon outfit.

Indeed, the French side could and perhaps should have won by a more convincing margin, but as it was Irish were able to scramble a losing bonus point late on.

A try from Rudi Wulf, converted by Jonny Wilkinson, and four penalties from the English fly-half proved enough for an away victory, with Irish mustering a try from Delon Armitage and penalties from Ryan Lamb and Dan Bowden.

Lamb could have put his side ahead on five minutes but missed a penalty and was punished on the quarter-hour mark when Wilkinson made no mistake with his first shot at goal.

Steffen Armitage was then pinged for holding on in the tackle offering Wilkinson another penalty opportunity which he accepted.

Toulon's Joe Van Niekerk had already served notice of his danger with a scintillating break and the number eight was involved on 26 minutes when the visitors scored the first try of the game.

It was the South African number eight who launched a fine counter out wide following a turnover, exchanging passes with Gabi Lovobalavu before feeding inside to Rudi Wulf who cantered over under the posts - Wilkinson added the conversion.

Devoid of ideas, the Exiles looked like a team on a losing run, but an inspired passage of play from their back three hauled them back into the game shortly before the break.

Thrilling try

In danger of conceding a second try, Sailosi Tagicakibau seized possession and launched a counter from virtually his own goal-line. The Samoan offloaded to Delon Armitage who released, continued his run and collected a pass from winger Jonathan Joseph before touching down his own kick ahead for a thrilling score.

Lamb kicked the extras to ensure Irish trailed by only six at the interval after a half in which they had been dominated for long periods.

They were fortunate not to fall further behind again ten minutes after the restart when Paul Hodgson was not penalised for tackling Paul Sackey, as the former Exiles winger attempted to run on to a kick through.

Lamb reduced the deficit to just three from a simple penalty chance on 55 minutes as Toulon were caught offside in front of their own posts and eight minutes later he had the chance to level the scores from long range but saw his effort drift just wide.

It was to prove costly as shortly afterwards Steffen Armitage was pulled up for using his hands in the ruck and Wilkinson made no mistake from the 22-metre line to move his side back into a six-point lead at 16-10.

The visitors should have put the game to bed but could not quite convert a couple of half-chances, but Wilkinson did finally move them out of range with four minutes to go as he slotted his fourth penalty of the afternoon.

Replacement Bowden managed to land a late penalty for London Irish to secure the losing bonus point, but it could not paper over the cracks of another poor display.