LONDON Irish maintained their 100 per cent record in this year’s Amlin Cup with a 24-13 victory over State Francais at the Madejski Stadium yesterday afternoon.

The hosts took an early lead with a Shane Geraghty penalty, but Jerome Porical levelled almost immediately for the French side.

Stade Francais then enjoyed a spell of pressure, culminating in a yellow card for Irish centre Fergus Mulchrone, but the hosts regained the lead with a second Geraghty penalty and then scored their first try of the day.

An excellent move led to Geraghty breaking away down the right and he offloaded inside for teenage winger Tom Fowlie to touch down, while a third Geraghty penalty made the score 14-3 at half-time.

Porical’s second penalty of the game cut the deficit to eight points after the break and the visitors moved even closer as the game went into the final quarter.

With Irish second row Nic Rouse in the sin-bin, the French side kicked to the corner and drove Remi Bonfils over the line, with Porical’s conversion making the score 14-13.

Geraghty’s fourth penalty of the afternoon gave the hosts some breathing space but they then lost Mike Mayhew to the sin-bin.

However, they made the game safe while down to 14, Alex Lewington escaping the grasp of two men to dive over for a try, with Geraghty’s conversion completing the scoring.

The win means Irish are five points clear at the top of Pool 5 ahead of the return match against Stade Francais on Saturday night (kick-off 9pm).