London Irish have edged out Exeter Chiefs 28-26 at the Madejski Stadium this afternoon in a thrilling encounter to end their three-game losing streak.
It was the visitors who opened the scoring on the 20-minute mark, with Gareth Steenson kicking over a penalty, but the first try fell the way of Irish's Blair Cowan, who touched down following a driving maul.
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There was a sign of things to come when Steenson kicked over for a second time shortly after to regain his side's lead, while Chiefs captain Dean Mumm opened his side's try count before the interval to build up a narrow gap.
Irish came out the stronger side following the interval, however, and they managed to turn the game on its head with two tries inside the opening eight minutes of the restart.
Tom Guest crossed over first to move the Exiles to within a point of the opposition, just minutes before some fine work from a turnover allowed Alex Lewington to touch down himself.
Cowan added his name to the scoresheet for a second time in a tightly-contested battle when he pounced following some patient play, but Dave Ewers's try, combined with Steenson's successful conversion, soon cut the lead once more.
Tom Homer and Steenson added a penalty each for their respective sides as the contest entered its final 10 minutes, yet there was still more drama to come.
First, Steenson split the sticks with a fourth penalty of the afternoon to put Exeter a point ahead with just three minutes left, yet Shane Geraghty found the target with a drop goal with time officially up to win the game for Irish at the death.
Irish, who had lost their last six against Exeter remain in 11th place following this dramatic win, while the Chiefs miss out on the chance to climb into the division's top four.
Daniel Lewis
