LONDON Irish put in a good performance but were unable to prevent champions Northampton Saints moving to the top of the Premiership with a 19-12 victory at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

The Exiles have now played all of last season’s top four and while they have lost to three of them, there have been plenty of positives to take.

On Saturday, they were certainly not outclassed by their visitors, matching their power in the pack throughout a tight game that lacked much in the way of invention.

Stephen Myler’s early penalty put Saints ahead and they scored the only try of the game soon after. George North found space and fed Luther Burrell, who held off Shane Geraghty to slide over the line.

Myler converted to put the visitors 10-0 up at half-time, but two kicks from Geraghty reduced the deficit to four points shortly after the break.

The pair then exchanged two more penalties apiece and while Ben Foden missed the chance to extend Northampton’s lead, fumbling the ball when over the line, another kick from Myler made the game safe.

Despite the defeat, Irish claimed a losing bonus point and sit seventh in the table, with some more winnable matches coming up.

Director of rugby Brian Smith said: “Northampton are the best team in England and we got ourselves in the position of giving ourselves a shot. We just came up short.

“Week on week, we’re earning the respect of our opponents and that’s phase one for us at the moment. The next step we must take is to put these teams away.”

Next up for Irish is a trip to fourth-placed Exeter Chiefs on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).