DIRECTOR of Rugby Nick Kennedy hailed London Irish’s second-half display as they crushed Nottingham 60-14 in the Greene King IPA Championship, writes Richard Ashton.

Exiles had secured a bonus point before half time, but turned on the style to run in a further five tries as they banished the memories of disjointed second-half displays in the previous two weeks.

Kennedy told the News: “It was important we kicked on in the second half. We need to keep our intensity for 80 minutes, and that’s a challenge for us.

“We have gone off the boil at certain times and sometimes it’s our own errors and others it’s a momentum shift in games – other teams do well – but it was something we talked about at half time and I thought the boys did really well.”

The work rate of the Irish side was clear to see in the final stages of the contest, where they defended frantically before Nottingham finally crossed for a consolation second try, and Kennedy said that is a key part of his side’s make-up.

However, he admitted: “We’ve got huge character and pride ourselves on hard work and our defence, so we’re actually very disappointed with conceding the try at the end.

“There were a couple of things I think we could have done to stop it, but all credit to Nottingham.

“They’re a good side, but after the loss (to Ospreys Premier Select) two weeks ago and the tough game at Ealing last week, we’ve trained really hard to put things right and I thought we did.”

Kennedy reserved praise for full back Greig Tonks, who replaced Tommy Bell in the starting line-up before switching to fly half when James Marshall departed.

He said: “Greig put in a great performance and showed the depth we have.”