LONDON Irish scrum half Piet van Zyl believes the Aviva Premiership is a tougher competition than Super Rugby as he bids to help keep Exiles in the top flight.

The South African and flanker Arno Botha joined from Blue Bulls back in January, and it was two-try van Zyl who inspired Irish to a stunning 35-5 victory at Harlequins on Saturday.

The result leaves Declan Kidney’s men nine points adrift of Worcester Warriors with three games remaining, but they face an almighty test of keeping their survival hopes alive when table-toppers Exeter Chiefs visit Madejski Stadium on Sunday (3pm).

And van Zyl admitted: “For me the Aviva Premiership is more competitive than Super Rugby and the games are mostly close contests, albeit Saturday’s game against Quins was by a bigger margin.

“I’m enjoying the experience over here and it’s been a good four months for me so far.

“I’m lucky to be doing something that I love, and I have a talent that God has given me, so I’m really enjoying the freedom of going out onto the pitch and showing what I can do.”

Reflecting on the Harlequins game, he said: “We were desperate to win the game and it was a massive team effort.

“Rugby is one of those sports where it’s solely down to a team effort and we showed against Harlequins that we’re good enough to stay in this competition.

“I have been in this situation before and we came out on top. Credit to our coaches for taking the pressure off us and allowing us to take things game by game and I think that’s why we put in a good performance.”