London Irish beat Newcastle Falcons 39-23 with a bonus point for four tries at the Madejski Stadium in the Anglo Welsh LV Cup on Sunday.

London Irish lost their opening LV Cup match 26-19 to Harlequins last weekend and Newcastle shocked Cardiff Blues 33-3 at Kingston Park.

Winger Adam Thompstone scored a brace as London Irish claimed a bonus-point win over Newcastle.

Boosted by the return to action of England internationals Delon Armitage and Shontayne Hape, the Exiles ran the ball with great gusto.

Both teams signalled their intention to play an expansive game early on and it was the Falcons who opened the scoring through a try to centre Jamie Helleur.

Thompstone scored his first try five minutes later after good work from number thirteen Jonathan Joseph.

Newcastle began to lose their discipline in the second quarter and they were made to pay for it with Steve Shingler slotting three penalties in the final fifteen minutes of the first half.

The Falcons responded after the break when Greg Goosen dived over after good work from the backs.

Fly-half Jeremy Manning added the conversion and a penalty a minute later to give the visitors the lead but going behind appeared to spur the home side into action.

Replacement number ten Daniel Bowden put the home side back in the lead with a penalty in the 55th minute before Delon Armitage crossed over in the corner to extend the Exiles' lead.

Bowden put over a drop goal before he was the beneficiary of a barnstorming run from Hape who put the replacement through for a five-pointer.

Bowden was not yet done, putting in a cute little grubber kick that was collected by Thompstone, the winger picking up his second try.

With the result - and the bonus point - in the bag, Irish conceded a late consolation try to replacement hooker Joe Graham.

Final Score London Irish 39 (16) Newcastle Falcons 23 (8)

Scorers

London Irish
Tries: Thompstone 2, Armitage, Bowden
Penalties: Shingler 3, Bowden
Conversions: Shingler, Bowden
Drop-goals: Bowden,

Newcastle Falcons
Tries: Helleur, Goosen, Graham
Penalties: Manning 2
Conversions: Manning

Teams

London Irish:15. Delon Armitage ; 14. Anthony Watson; 13. Jonathan Joseph; 12. Shontayne Hape ; 11. Adam Thompstone; 10. Steve Shingler; 9. Ross Samson; 1. Max Lahiff; 2. James Buckland; 3. Paulica Ion ; 4. Nick Kennedy (Captain); 5. Bryn Evans ; 6. Declan Danaher; 7. Jamie Gibson; 8. Richard Thorpe

Replacements : 16. Brian Blaney; 17. Alex Corbisierio ; 18.Faan Rautenbach ; 19.James Sandford; 20. David Sisi; 21. Sailosi Tagicakibau ; 22. Daniel Bowden; 23. Darren Allinson

Newcastle: Greg Goosen, Rikki Sheriffe, Luke Eves, Jamie Helleur, Alex Tait, Jeremy Manning, Chris Pilgrim, Darren Fearn, Michael Mayhew, James Hall, Glen Townson, Andrew van der Heijden, Mark Wilson, Redford Pennycook, Ally Hogg (c)

Replacements: Joe Graham, Ashley Wells, Dan Frazier, Tim Swinson, Will Welch, Jordi Pasqualin, Corne Uys, Joel Hodgson