Aviva Premiership round-up: Geraghty’s brilliance snatches dramatic victory for London Irish

London Irish 28-26 Exeter Chiefs

London Irish snatched a last-gasp victory against Exeter Chiefs at the Madejski Stadium, with Shane Geraghty providing the heroics at the death with a dramatic drop goal.

The match failed to come alive in the opening exchanges, with the boot of Exeter's Gareth Steenson putting the only points on the board after 20 minutes.

However, Blair Cowan’s try put the hosts in front, before Dean Mumm forced his way over the line from close range after neat build up play from Don Armand, Jack Yeandle and Henry Slade, to nudge the Chiefs ahead.

But the two sides saved the best of the action for the second 40; the hosts making a blistering start with tries from Tom Guest and Alex Lewington to open up a 17-13 lead.

And Cowan’s second score of the match seemed to put Irish in full control, but the visitors had different ideas responding with a try of their own four minutes later through a Dave Ewers finish.

With the game beautifully poised at 25-20 with five minutes remaining, the influential Steenson kicked Exeter ahead.

But it was the home side that snatched a thrilling victory at the death, as fly-half Geraghty showed great composure to guide the ball between the posts with a drop goal.

Newcastle Falcons 38-7 London Welsh

London Welsh lost their 13th consecutive Premiership game since the start of the season, this time losing out to lowly Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.

The hosts raced into a 19-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes, with hooker Rob Vickers and scrum-half Mike Blair providing the scores.

Nick Scott stemmed the tide for Welsh, galloping onto Will Robinson’s kick, but a Will Welch score gave the Falcons a 17 point advantage at the break.

Ally Hogg increased Newcastle’s stranglehold on the match after the restart; the 31-year-old with good hands on the ten metre line to fend off challenges, before accelerating beyond the covering defence for a deserved try.

A spirited defensive display from the visitors kept the score down, but they were unable to prevent Tom Catterick adding gloss to the scoreline late on.