Premiership Rugby: London Irish 29-20 Saracens

London Irish overcame a spell with just 12 men to beat Saracens in an absorbing contest.

Irish held out despite Jackson landing five penalties and converting both of them.

Kapeli Pifeleti and Sean

Exiles captain Adam Coleman went in the opening 40 minutes with a shoulder injury, while Ben Earl went in the first half with a head injury.

The match director of rugby said that Woolstencroft was up and about after he was forced off.

Despite being beaten, Sarries remain ten points clear at the top.

Irish came out on the right side of the score after narrowly missing out on a win in their last four games.

Their third win of the season was the result of huge heart and resolve to knock off the league leaders and deny them a losing-bonus point of their own.

They overcame the loss of Will Joseph to injury, as well as the red card of Coleman, to win the game, despite being down to 12 men due to sin-bins for Rob Simmons andRory Jennings.

They dominated the set piece, harrying the visitors' line-out and forcing a slew of free-kicks at the scrum, with fly-half Jackson buzzing on the back of their supremacy.

Sharp hands on the back of field position created by a teasing kick from Ben Loader and Tom Pearson's rampaging run set the platform for Cunningham-South to power over.

It was the defensive mindset that helped the hosts over the line and frustrated the side who had won their first nine games of the season.

The Sarries had passed their European exams against Edinburgh and Lyon in the last few weeks.

When the numerical advantage was with them, they were unable to deliver enough of a threat due to the set piece issues.

Pifeleti ground his way over after the Exiles were awarded a field position just before the break, while the grubber was messed up by Sinti for Maitland's score.

Irish kept them at arm's length in the end for a priceless victory.

The director of rugby in London is DeclanKidney.

What happened there has surprised me, it was a game to watch and lots of ebb and flows. We got a bit of reward after we knocked on the door. It was so entertaining because there were a lot of important points in the match.

The guys are so 888-609- 888-609- We got them held up over the line, got a goal line drop out, and gave up an attacking position. Those small things can make a big difference.

They know how to win. We showed a lot of our learnings tonight. I'm happy for everyone in the organisation because there's been a bit of adversity. Everybody did a great job.

The director of rugby spoke to the radio station.

London Irish were the better team and deserved their victory.

We didn't play with the energy and clear minds that we usually do. We seemed confused.

For whatever reason we didn't score in that situation, we were on their goal line and they were down to 12 men.

London Irish: Cinti, Joseph, van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, White and Goodrick-Clarke.

Replacements: Fischetti, Munga, Simmons, Cunningham-South, and the list goes on.

Simmons had a sin-bin.

Coleman was red carded.

Farrell (capt), Van Zyl, Lewington, Tompkins, Maitland, Woolstencroft, Riccioni, Isiekwe, Tizard, Christie, Earl, B Vunipola are some of the players in the squad.

The replacements were Pifeleti, Hislop, Kitchener, Wray, Davies, Howlett, and Malins.

Earl received a red card.

The referee was Matthew Carley.