LONDON Irish suffered a 31-13 defeat at home to the Newcastle Falcons in their LV= Cup game.

The home side led 6-0 thanks to a brace of penalties from Myles Dorrian, but the visitors hit back to have a 14-6 advantage by half-time.

This was thanks to tries from Will Welsh and Alesana Tuilagi which were both converted by Tom Catterick.

After the break, the Falcons increased their lead from Sinoti Sinoti and Ally Hogg scores to 26-6.

Fergus Mulchrone scored the Exiles’ only try of the game on 69 minutes which Dorrian converted.

Newcastle wrapped up the scoring two minutes from time when Jamie Helleur went over.

Irish return to Premiership action on Friday with a tough trip to the Northampton Saints.