PAUL Hodgson paid tribute to Bedford Blues after they pushed London Irish in a 36-21 Greene King IPA Championship defeat at Madejski Stadium, writes Richard Ashton.

The lowly visitors – who sit ninth in the table – gave Exiles something to think about as they closed to within seven points of the league leaders with 15 minutes remaining, before Irish regrouped to seal victory.

Skills coach Hodgson said: “Bedford are a good team and they’d showed some form coming in.

“It was us who put a lot of pressure on them but they defended quite well. In the second half every now and again we looked like we were going to push on but that didn’t quite come.”

The victory was a 13th consecutive league win for the unbeaten Exiles, and a 17th in all competitions.

Yet Hodgson praised the quality of the competition, stating: “It’s extremely high. The set piece, the scrum and mauls, are up there with the Premiership in my opinion.

“Some of the individual talent, on the counter-attack is brilliant. There are a lot of great coaches. The player quality is high and our supporters have seen the quality.”

Irish are set to be further boosted in the new year with the likes of Alex Lewington, Theo Brophy-Clews and Joe Trayfoot all set to return from injury.

And Hodgson said: “We’ve got a few guys coming back from injury which is very exciting and gives more competition for places. It’s all about building the squad and the quality throughout.

“One of our success stories has been how many players have played and got game time. We’re making sure all the players within the squad are able to play if they had a play-off game the following week. That keeps morale up.”

Hodgson also reserved special praise for captain Ben Franks, with the two-time World Cup winner again outstanding.

He said: “Ben is an absolute role model. We have a very young squad and the likes of him show what a true professional looks like. He’s there 25 minutes before training starts doing prep.

“The way he eats. I can’t speak about him highly enough, he’s a real leader in the team and he brings the best out of the other players,” added Hodgson.