Adam Thompstone claimed a second-half hat-trick as London Irish ruthlessly swept aside Leeds Carnegie 56-7 to send out another emphatic reminder of their Guinness Premiership title credentials.

The Exiles were beaten by Leicester in last season's Premiership final but hopes are high at the Madejski Stadium that Toby Booth's men can go one better this time around.

They certainly had far too much quality for Leeds, and after a penalty try and a Chris Hala'ufia touch down in the first half, they cut loose after the restart by running in five second-half tries.

Hala'ufia completed his brace and Thompstone seized centre stage with his treble before Sailosi Tagicakibau added a late seventh to brutally illustrate the gulf between the sides and give Irish a second successive bonus-point victory.

Leeds lacked nothing in spirit but an outstanding first-half try from highly-rated flanker Kearnan Myall was ultimately little consolation for the Yorkshiremen, who have been tipped for relegation since the start of the season.