The hosts made a dream start at the Madejski Stadium as man-of-the-match prop Halani Aulika burst clear from the base of a ruck to go in for a try under the posts in just the second minute, before Shane Geraghty converted to put his side 7-0 to the good.

The Falcons came back strongly but things got even better for Glenn Delaney's men when they again capitalised on the visitors failure to defend around the fringes, scrum half Scott Steele sniping through from the back of a powerful rolling maul.

With both sides turning down kickable penalties, Newcastle eventually elected to take three points after Irish were penalised for an illegal tackle. Tom Catterick's regulation effort cutting the gap to 14-3.

Geraghty then let his side down twice in quick succession, initially giving away a penalty on the half-way line for not releasing, before he was sin-binned for going off side five metres from his own try line as Newcastle attacked.

The visitors again declined the chance to take three points and were nearly rewarded with a try, only for Chronicle-columnist Andrew Fenby to make a fabulous try-saving tackle on Catterick.

However, no sooner had Geraghty returned than David Paice was sent to the bin for Exiles, again infringing in the red zone after referee Greg Garner had warned the hosts about their discipline.

Catterick's successful kick made it 14-6, but Irish responded and scored a fine try on the stroke of half-time to put themselves in control.

After hammering away at the line, the ball was spun down the line, and although Nic Rouse dropped the ball, it went backwards, allowing Geraghty to flick it on to Fenby who crossed in the right hand corner.

Newcastle began the second half in fine fashion, dominating possession and territory for the opening 25 minutes, but their lack of creativity, coupled with a brilliant defensive rearguard from Irish, meant they only had a Catterick penalty to show for their efforts as the game entered the final quarter of an hour.

However, Falcons gave themselves hope as they finally crossed the whitewash, replacement wing Chris Harris scything through and just reaching the line despite tripping five metres short.

Catterick's kick went wide but it set up a frantic final five minutes which saw Italian international Josh Furno sin-binned for the visitors following a dangerous tackle on Chris Noakes. However, Jebb Sinclair followed him to the sidelines for Exiles for his reaction, leaving the final few minutes to be played as 14-a-side.

Noakes dusted himself down to slot the penalty and put his team eight points clear, but there was further drama to come as the impressive Harris again broke through before off-loading to Adam Powell who touched down.

Catterick knocked over a brilliant conversion from the touchline to make it 22-21 with 50 seconds remaining, but the visitors could not pull off a miracle comeback as a forward pass dashed their hopes at the death.

Irish remain 10th in the Aviva Premiership table, and are now seven points clear of their beaten opponents.

The Exiles return to the Madejski Stadium for their European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh next Sunday (5.45pm).

London Irish: Fenby; Lewington, Griffin, Sheridan, Fowlie; Geraghty, Steele; Court, Paice, Aulika, Skivington (capt), Rouse, Gilsenan, Cowan, Guest.

Replacements: Stevens, Parr, Halavatau, Sinclair, Narraway, Allinson, Noakes, Ojo.

Newcastle Falcons: A. Tait; Cato, Tiesi, Powell, Sinoti; Catterick, Tipuna; Vickers, Lawson, Brookes, Thompson, Barrow, Mayhew, Welch (capt), Wilson.

Replacements: Hawkins, Rogers, Orlandi, Furno, Saull, Davies, Socino, Harris.

Attendance: 15,731.