LONDON Irish eyes were not smiling at the Madejski Stadium, as they lost 44-23 to Bath in the Premiership.

At half-time the Exiles only trailed by one point 14-13, thanks to Topsy Ojo’s converted try and two James O’Connor penalties.

The visitors’ points had come from a Kyle Eastmond try and three George Ford penalties.

After the break, Bath ran in four more scores from Eastmond, Anthony Watson, David Wilson and Matt Garvey and Ford kicked another three penalties.

Irish could only reply with a converted try from Chris Hala’ufia’s and Shane Geraghty’s penalty.

Before the game Irish provided a guard of honour for flanker Declan Danaher the club’s longest serving player in the professional era who joined in 1999, and who announced his retirement on Thursday.

Irish are next in action on Saturday (3pm) when they face mid-table Harlequins.