LONDON Irish head coach Nick Kennedy believes Saturday’s Aviva Premiership trip to Leicester Tigers offers the chance ‘to put things right’ after a narrow 20-15 home defeat to Newcastle Falcons consigned his side to an 11th straight league defeat, writes Richard Ashton.

Exiles pushed the visitors throughout Saturday’s tussle, but were ultimately left to rue conceding two Alex Tait tries in five first-half minutes.

The defeat leaves Irish 10 points adrift of Worcester Warriors at the foot of the table, with 10 games of the season remaining.

But Kennedy is relishing this weekend’s test, and told the Chronicle: “We know we’ve got work to do and we’ll throw everything into it.

“It’s a very tough place to play, but a great place to play. We’ve got some boys in our squad who’ve played for them and they know the history there. They’ve got internationals wherever you look in their squad, but it’s a game we’re really looking forward to.

“We need to bring 80 minutes of concentration and 80-minute performances. It’s another chance to try and put things right.”

Full back Greig Tonks agreed, and is hoping Exiles can build momentum at Tigers and then in back-to-back European Challenge Cup fixtures against Russian minnows Krasny Yar.

Irish then face Wasps and Cardiff Blues in the Anglo-Welsh Cup before a key run of league games in February – at home to Sale, away to Northampton and home to Warriors.

And Tonks said: “We’ve got a good run of games coming up to put it right. This is a good chance to build momentum.

“We’ll go to Leicester as underdogs with nothing to lose, so we’ll throw everything at them and see what happens.”