London Irish recovered brilliantly from their defeat by highflying Gloucester on St Stephen's Day to beat Bristol 35-21 at The Stoop.

The Exiles, with skipper Conor O'Shea at his counter-attacking best, romped into a 25-0 lead seven minutes before half-time and were never seriously threatened thereafter.

They played out the last 15 minutes with 14 men as Mark Gabey and Simon Halford were sin-binned for persistent offside.

Irish started at a blistering pace, flanker Kieron Dawson sprinting through a huge gap to touch down after just 50 seconds. Wing Jarrod Cunningham converted and then added a penalty. They pulled even further away through prop Neal Hatley's short-range score, and Cunningham then kicked his second penalty.

With scrum-half Kevin Putt calling the shots, quick handling between backs and forwards enabled O'Shea to sprint over wide out. Cunningham's conversion effectively made the game safe at 25-0, and he added a penalty before halftime. Bristol tried hard in the second half, but they were powerless to stop O'Shea from scoring after impressive centre Robert Todd again did most of the groundwork.

Leicester's Geordan Murphy scored a try and a penalty in his team's 29-17 win over Harlequins. The imaginative selection of Austin Healey at out-half was crucial.

At Loftus Road, Matt Dawson struck six penalties as Northampton climbed to the top of the league with a 21-15 win over Wasps, while Newcastle scrambled to their first league win of the season, 12-6 win over Sale. The Gloucester-Bedford match was postponed.