Confirmed - London Irish have been relegated

London Irish have officially been relegated from the Aviva Premiership after Worcester Warriors secured a bonus point against Harlequins at Sixways this afternoon.

The bonus point thanks to a 4th try – courtesy of Ben Te’o – secured their survival and made it mathematically impossible for London Irish to stay up.

While only 10 points clear, the fact that Worcester Worcester have won more matches this season means that even if Irish win their last two matches with try bonus points and draw level with Worcester, they still wouldn’t asail their rivals at the bottom of the table.

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It is the second time the club have been relegated in three seasons.

London Irish legend David Paice will skipper the Exiles in his last home game tomorrow when Saracens travel to the Madejski Stadium in what will be their final Premiership for at least 15 months.

The result however of that match is now effectively meaningless in terms of the club’s season.

The Exiles have made four changes for the visit of Saracens, the most notable inclusion being Blair Cowan who returns to Irish’s starting XV following his loan spell with this weekend’s opponents.

Cowan partners Jake Schatz in the back-row, while Greig Tonks replaces the injured Tommy Bell at full-back. Johnny Williams gets the nod at inside centre, with Theo Brophy Clews switching to fly-half.

“We’ve trained well over the past two weeks and we’re under no illusions at the task in hand as we look forward to the challenge of facing a very good Saracens team,” said Exiles technical consultant Declan Kidney.

This week veteran Paice announced his retirement.

The 34-year-old is Irish’s most capped player of all time having racked up 288 appearances for the club he joined in 2003. Watched on by family and friends this weekend, the one club man said: “I would like to thank London Irish for giving me the opportunity to play professional rugby.

“The support of my wife Alyce and my two girls Amelie and Charlotte during my time at the club has been truly amazing, and they have allowed me to enjoy my rugby.

“Without their support I wouldn’t have got this far in my career. I feel that the time is right for us to move back to Brisbane and be closer to family – our eldest will also be starting school soon.”