Aviva Premiership: Northampton defeat London Irish to go top

Northampton moved to the top of the Aviva Premiership table after a hard-fought 19-12 victory over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium.

The reigning champions clinched their fourth win out of five league outings so far this season to move above both Bath and Saracens in the standings, though they made heavy weather of it against the Exiles.

Centre Luther Burrell's 36th-minute effort was the solitary try of a drab spectacle short on highlights, Stephen Myler adding the conversion on his way to a personal haul of 14 points.

Shane Geraghty matched the Northampton fly-half with four penalties, his kicking efforts proving enough to clinch Irish a losing bonus point.

The visitors led 10-0 at half-time, a Myler penalty after 15 minutes breaking the deadlock before Burrell showed impressive strength to breach the whitewash.

Having butchered two earlier opportunities for Northampton with poor handling, the England international made amends when he finished off a sharp counter-attack following an aimless kick from Irish.

Stampeding

Myler, Ken Pisi and George North were involved before Burrell chose to go it alone despite having Courtney Lawes outside him, firstly stampeding over Geraghty and then riding a despairing tackle from Tomas O'Leary to touch down.

Geraghty, who had missed a simple three points to get the home team up and running in the first half, was successful with two attempts early in the second half to cut the gap to 10-6.

Indeed, the third quarter was dominated by a kicking duel from the tee with Myler always managing a response to keep Northampton just ahead.

There appeared to be little chance of a second try as a fourth Geraghty penalty kept the scoreboard ticking over as Irish threatened to follow up their away win over Leicester with another notable scalp.

The Exiles did continue to snap at the heels of Northampton, although their cause was not helped when Geraghty failed with a simple drop-goal and a long-range penalty.

At last the game opened up in the final stages, with Burrell almost forcing his way over for a second time before his poor pass ruined an excellent chance for Ben Foden.

Instead Myler's boot rounded out the scoring, his 78th-minute penalty a rather fitting end to a drab contest.