NICK Kennedy believes London Irish still face a ‘massive challenge’ to return to the Aviva Premiership, despite beating upcoming play-off semi-final opponents Doncaster on Saturday.

Exiles powered to a 22-5 success – their 19th victory in 20 Greene King IPA Championship matches – and will return to Castle Park for the first leg of the semi finals on Sunday, April 30.

The second leg at Madejski Stadium will take place the following Saturday, where Irish beat the Yorkshire side 19-0 at the start of the season.

While Irish will start as favourites, Kennedy admitted they will have to be at the top of their game.

He revealed: “It’s going to be a massive challenge for us and as we saw at the weekend, the crowd at Castle Park will play their part in the contest.

“They are a well-supported team and are very well coached, so it’s going to be a big two weeks of preparation.”

He continued: “As we’ve said all year, it’s about peaking at the end of the season and I’m pleased with the way things are going at the moment.

“Now we’ve got a two week run-in and we’re going to play Doncaster again, so everything is geared towards preparing to play them twice more.”