LONDON Irish suffered a 28-16 defeat in their opening Premiership game of the season against visiting Leicester Tigers.

The visitors took two minutes to open the scoring thanks to a Tommy Bell's penalty his first of 23 points in the contest.

The boot of Chris Noakes levelled things before Peter Betham scored the first try of the game which Bell converted for a 10-3.

Bell added two more penalties before the break, which also saw the Exiles go over for a try thanks to Jebb Sinclair and Noakes added the extras for a half time score of 19-13.

The second half saw three more penalties from Bell and one for Noakes which made the final score 28-16.

This Saturday, London Irish travel to the Exeter Chiefs.