LONDON Irish remain in command of their British & Irish Cup group thanks to a 33-24 victory against Cornish Pirates at Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

A youthful Exiles ran in five tries against the spirited Pirates to move six points clear of their opponents at the top of Pool 2.

It also means Nick Kennedy's men maintained their 100% record this season in league and cup matches with a 14th successive win.

The hosts opened the scoring when Jacob Atkins crossed for his first Irish try following a marauding run from Gerard Ellis.

Greig Tonks failed to convert but Irish soon added a second try when skipper Conor Gilsenan burrowed his way over from close range after great work by the pack. This time Tonks added the extras for a 12-0 lead.

However, they were quickly reeled back in by Pirates thanks to a Will Cargill penalty followed by a try from on-loan Exeter Chiefs back Jack Arnott, who latched onto his own chip to score and leave the visitors just 12-10 behind.

Exiles regained the initiative by running in two tries in quick succession before the interval.

Number eight Senitiki Nayalo crashed over on the half-hour mark to give his side some breathing space.

That was soon followed by a try from hooker Dave Porecki on his Irish debut, the Australian's involvement this season having been ravaged by injury following his summer switch from Saracens.

That was enough to seal a bonus point for Irish, though the second half was a different story as Pirates threatened to undo the home side's excellent first-half display.

The visitors closed the gap to 26-17 four minutes after the restart when Cargill intercepted a pass to score his second touchdown of the game.

However, Irish immediately hit back when promising centre Matt Williams grabbed his first try for the club following a defensive mix-up, with Tonks slotting his fourth conversion of the day.

Pirates refused to lie down and prevented Irish from scoring another point for the remainder of the match.

They also notched another try of their own in the last minute when Arnott snaffled up a wayward Irish pass to glide over under the posts, but it was nothing more than a consolation.

Exiles travel to Penzance for the return fixture this Sunday (2.30pm ko) before returning to Greene King IPA Championship action the following Saturday when they go to Richmond.

London Irish: Atkins (Fowlie 64), Cokanasiga (Ransom 51), Tikoirotuma, Williams, Hearn, Tonks, Murphy (Brand 58), Elrington (Frost 63), Porecki, Hoskins (Palframan 58), Cooke, Sexton, Gilsenan (c), Ellis, Nayalo.