DIRECTOR of rugby Nick Kennedy believes London Irish have room for improvement following their 19-0 victory at home against Doncaster Knights, writes Richard Ashton.

Tries from Tom Fowlie and Aseli Tikoirotuma, allied to nine points from the boot of new signing Tommy Bell, ensured a comfortable victory at Madejski Stadium.

But Kennedy said the performance was only a 7/10, adding: “There’s a couple of things we really need to work on which we’ll be reviewing.

“We want to keep getting better but we’re really happy to get the win.

“We’ll look to improve the things we need to next week.”

He continued: “It was a very wet day with a greasy ball and the first game of the season, so failing to miss a couple of chances isn’t a criticism I’ll be levelling at the guys.

“I thought they worked extremely hard and I was very happy with the defence, particularly Ben Franks, the amount of tackles he made.”

The new-look midfield trio of fly half Tommy Bell and centres Johnny Williams and Tom Fowlie impressed for Exiles and Kennedy beamed: “Tom had a great game, and him and Johnny are two boys who came through our system and it was great to see them out there together. I thought they both played well.

“Tom was outstanding in preseason, he’s got great feet, excellent skills, he can kick the ball a mile and we’re really pleased with him so far.

“Time will tell if the squad is stronger than last year. We are going to look to rotate the guys in so we’ll be put to the test.”

Exiles welcome rivals Richmond to Madejski Stadium on Saturday (3pm), and Kennedy is expecting another tough test.

He said: “I live one mile down the road so I’ve been and watched them.

“They’ve got a very big pack and some great players. Matt Corker from London Welsh in the second row, Sam Stuart at scrum half, who I played with at Harlequins, sets the tempo of their game.”

And he concluded: “A few of our lads live in Richmond and having a good number of local derbies adds an edge.”