TOPSY Ojo marked his record-equalling 290th London Irish appearance with a try as Exiles hammered Yorkshire Carnegie 72-5 for a sixth straight Greene King IPA Championship victory on Saturday, writes Richard Ashton.

Australian prop Ollie Hoskins also celebrated his 50th cap with a hat-trick as Declan Kidney’s men put their beleaguered opponents to the sword in a 12-try demolition job at Madejski Stadium.

It took the hosts just nine minutes to get off the mark, scrum-half Brendan McKibbin sniping through the Carnegie defence before Ben Meehan – called into the side at stand-off after Stephen Myler suffered a knock in the warm-up – crossed for Irish’s first try.

The power of the home side’s pack then became clear as a rolling maul near the Yorkshire line was brought down illegally five minutes later, a penalty try awarded to give Exiles a 12-0 lead.

With Will Britton in the bin following the score, the visitors defended well to keep Irish from extending their lead while down to 14 men, but almost as soon as the second row was re-introduced, the hosts scored their third.

Clever work from McKibbin and American centre Bryce Campbell created space on the left, and young full back Tom Parton made no mistake in increasing his impressive early-season try tally.

The bonus-point score arrived just after the half-hour mark as Samoan hooker Motu Maat’u enjoyed a debut try, dotting down at the back of another ferocious line-out drive from the Irish pack. This time Meehan landed an excellent conversion to extend the advantage to 24-0.

A lengthy break in play followed as Yorkshire second row Matt Smith was stretchered off, but Exiles showed no mercy and added a fifth try just before the break, the driving maul again proving unstoppable as Hoskins snaffled his first of the day.

Yorkshire did reply gamely at the end of the half, but their efforts to get on the scoreboard were repelled by a determined home defence which resulted in a turnover from skipper Josh McNally.

The hosts began the second half as they had dominated the first, pushing Yorkshire off their own scrum to earn a set-piece of their own five metres out.

With the ball spread right, Parton had the easy task of dotting down for his second of the afternoon. Although Meehan was again off-target from the touchline, Irish led 36-0.

The seventh Irish try arrived in the 51st minute and followed a similar pattern to many of the previous, the rolling maul proving impossible for Carnegie to halt as Hoskins again proved the beneficiary. This time Meehan nailed a fine kick to add the extras.

The half century was racked up just eight minutes later as Exiles’ forwards power again told, a number of pick-and-goes eventually culminating in second row Barney Maddison touching down. Meehan’s conversion made it 50-0.

The highlight of the afternoon for the majority of the home supporters arrived almost immediately afterwards, Parton showing some fine footwork to burst through before passing to Ojo to dive over in the right-hand corner.

Try number 10 came on 67 minutes after another of Irish’s impressive youngsters, Ben Loader, made a searing run down the left before enabling replacement Fergus Mulchrone to go over, and Meehan added a superb touchline conversion to put the hosts 62-0 in front.

Showing no let-up, Irish’s pack then secured yet another try from the back of a rolling maul, substitute hooker Saia Fangia’a – who impressed during a cameo 25-minute appearance – taking the plaudits this time.

There was still time for Hoskins to complete his treble – albeit the score originally being awarded to Maddison – after the Aussie burrowed over from close range.

Despite a torrid afternoon at the office, it was Carnegie who had the final say, scrum half JP Bruzillier showing impressive vision to take a quick tap penalty before running in from 35 metres out.

London Irish will hope to extend their perfect run at Doncaster Knights next Saturday, before a key test against fellow highflyers Cornish Pirates at Madejski Stadium on Saturday, October 27.

London Irish: Parton (Tonks, 69), Ojo, Macken, Campbell (Mulchrone, 52), Loader, Meehan, McKibbin, Hobbs-Awoyemi (Elrington, 55), Matu’u (Fainga’a, 52), Hoskins, Maddison, De Chaves, McNally (c) (Paulo, 55), Schatz, Rogerson (Treviranus, 61).

Yorkshire Carnegie: Brown, Moor, Watkins, Bullough, Elder, Forsyth (Harry Davey, 55), Bruzullier, Thraves (Vaughan, 45), Donnellan (Gibbings, 55), Illnicki (Foster, 45), Britton, Smith (Foster), Ward, Bainbridge (Buckle, 62), Temm (c).