FRANCO van der Merwe has played down the pressure on London Irish despite Exiles slipping 12 points adrift at the foot of the Aviva Premiership, writes Richard Ashton.

Nick Kennedy's men suffered a 13th consecutive league defeat in a 13-9 defeat at home to Sale on Saturday, and with Worcester Warriors producing a stunning 6-5 upset at champions Exeter, things look dire for Irish.

Their next two games are at third-bottom Northampton Saints this Saturday, before Warriors visit Madejski Stadium on Sunday, February 25.

A brace of victories could reignite Exiles' hopes, but two defeats would all but mathematically confirm a return to the Greene King IPA Championship after just one season back in the top flight.

However, van der Merwe said: "We don't see the next two as 'must-wins' as we don't want to put that kind of pressure on ourselves.

"We want to control the things we can, play the way we want to play and follow the process. Hopefully it will go our way in the next two games.

"We're hungry for a win and we have another opportunity next weekend.

"There's not a lot of games left and the margin is getting bigger and bigger. We have to stay positive and hope that a win is around the corner."

Reflecting on the disappointing Sale loss, he added: "We've had a couple of losing bonus points during the season and somewhere down the line we need to turn those into wins.

"We're still a positive side and the energy is still good in the camp. The guys played really well and we're disappointed with the result, but I know the guys will fight next weekend again."

He continued: "First half it felt like we defended for 40 minutes and with the one chance we got we kicked the penalty. That gave us a bit of hope because we knew if we kept the ball we could get points.

"In the second half we showed we wanted to play the territory game and keep the ball and we got some reward for that."