Paul Hodgson further enhanced his claims for a spot in the England starting line-up by producing a stand-out performance to help London Irish beat Leicester Tigers 22-13 at the Madejski Stadium.

Scrum-half Hodgson, who was drafted into England's 31-man Six Nations training squad last week, controlled the field all afternoon while Eoghan Hickey's 100 percent success rate on kicks at goal ensured the Exiles punished Leicester for their deteriorating discipline in the second half.

Hickey, signed from Munster over the summer, opened the scoring with a penalty in the seventh minute just after Topsy Ojo had been denied a try by a Television Match Official, who decided the Saxons player had been held up by Geordan Murphy just before the line.

The Exiles did not have to wait long for their first try though with Richard Thorpe touching down just two minutes later after Steffon Armitage and Shane Geraghty had both been stopped just short.

Leicester had barely been allowed out of their own half in the first 10 minutes but suddenly hit back with Andy Goode caught London Irish napping and raced away before offloading to Ayoola Erinle for the try.

The try seemed to wake Leicester up and they pressured the Exiles defence for much of the rest of the first half. But the home side stood firm and point blank refused to concede a second try.

Goode did have two chances to put Leicester level just before the interval but uncharacteristically skewed both the kicks well wide.

The some-time England flyhalf made no such mistake after the interval though and duly levelled things up at 10-10 after Nick Kennedy was saw a penalty fighting with Ben Kay go against him.

From there, however, Leicester disintegrated rapidly allowing London Irish to run riot throughout midfield only just managing to prevent a heavier defeat with some last-ditch defending.

The Exiles really should have put a second try on the board with Peter Hewat finding a gaping hole the size of China in the Leicester defence before breaking away to the try line.

No doubt replays will show Hewat he should have put his head down and run for the line, but instead the Australian chose to pass out wide to Sailosi Tagicakibau, an option that saw the move breakdown without points on the board.

Hickey kept the hosts firmly in control, however, as Leicester were penalised for failing to release the ball on the ground, an early tackle and offside.

A shocking error from Hewat whilst attempting to collect the ball after a re-start allowed Leicester a brief moment of hope but Mike Catt, on after England hopeful Shane Geraghty sustained a worrying right knee injury, slammed the door shut just one minute later with an inch-perfect drop goal.

The win keeps alive London Irish's hopes of adding a Guinness Premiership play-off spot to the impressive European Cup semi-final berth they have already secured.

Newcastle Falcons 16-14 Saracens

England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson kicked a 79th minute to snatch a Newcastle a much-needed victory over Saracens at Kingston Park.

It took almost 20 minutes for the first points to be put on the board but when they were it was in compelling fashion as Wilkinson's international team-mate Toby Flood picked up a loose ball to cross over from close range.

Wilkinson scored all of the Falcon's points from there on in going head-to-head with opposite number Glen Jackson and just coming out on top.

Saracens had a gilt-edged opportunity to put their first try on the board but Kevin Yates fumbled substitute Adam Powell's pass on the tryline and the chance went begging.

Wilkinson and Jackson traded penalties just before the interval while Ben Skirving touched down in the corner to put Saracens back in contention early in the second half.

But Jackson's missed conversion ultimately proved decisive as he and Wilkinson again traded two penalties as the match drew to a close.

Bristol 29-26 Gloucester

Jason Strange scored 19 points as Bristol survived a late revival from league-leaders Gloucester at Memorial Stadium.

Despite the loss the Cherry and Whites retain the top spot in the Guinness Premiership by just one point thanks to Leicester's inability to take a losing-bonus point away from the Madesjski earlier in the day.

Tries from wing James Simpson-Daniel and centres Jack Adams and Anthony Allen within the first half hour looked to have left Gloucester firmly in control.

But missed conversions by Chris Paterson combined with a yellow card to Marco Bortolami allowed Bristol right back into the match and tries from hooker Scott Linklater and prop Jason Hobson left the hosts leading 22-17 at the interval.

Strange had also proved instrumental in the first half recording three penalties compared with none from Gloucester and a fourth penalty combined with a drop goal from the flyhalf was enough to see Bristol secure the four points despite Gloucester substitute Willie Walker setting up a tense final 10 minutes with two successful kicks of his own.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport