In-form Irish proving to be simply the best

When London Irish scored 62 points against his old club last April, Dick Best said the smile on his face would have to be surgically removed.

That smile will surely be permanent now after a third successive victory against Harlequins, the club Best left after a players' revolt in the spring of 1997.

Can this really be the same London Irish side that so nervously avoided relegation via play-off games against Rotherham last season? Strictly speaking it is not. The harsh realities of professional rugby have meant that Best, the Exiles' director of rugby, has gone beyond Ireland's shores for players, bolstering his team with recruits from the southern hemisphere.

But it mattered not to the supporters singing Molly Malone that at The Stoop they were watching a side containing only four Irishmen. The Exiles have won six games on the trot and have moved into third place in the Premiership. They are playing the best attacking rugby in the division and, although Best played down their chances of taking the title, it may not be beyond Irish in their centenary season.

They still have to travel to Leicester and have difficult home matches against Bath and Saracens, but their 15-man game is a handful for anyone and they defend with grim resolution. A second-half score by Justin Bishop summed up their effervescent style. Quins had won a scrum deep within the Irish half but the ball bobbed loose, Steve Bachop hacked on and Niall Woods picked up near the halfway line.

Woods left John Schuster and Peter Mensah standing with two side-steps that would not have disgraced Phil Bennett in his heyday and passed to Bishop, who ran in the try that sealed Quins's fate.

Wings Woods and Bishop and full-back Conor O'Shea are establishing claims to forming Ireland's back three for their opening Five Nations game against France on Saturday week. O'Shea, in particular, is in irresistible form. He looks capable of running through brick walls at the moment and his two tries demonstrated his elusive running skills.

Best's work ethic is also bringing out the best in less-heralded players. Kris Fullman's career was going nowhere in particular when he was signed from Bristol last year, but the prop pretty much absorbed everything that Jason Leonard could throw at him. Alongside him in the front row the New Zealander Richard Kirke, after some early wayward throwing into the line-out, had a sparkling game in the loose.

Harlequins: Williams; O'Leary, Mensah, Schuster, Luger; Lacroix, Harries; Leonard, Wood, Halpin, Morgan, Llewellyn, Brooke (capt), Leach, Sheasby. Replacements: Jenkins for Brooke (11 mins), Walshe for Harries (29 mins), Officer for Lacroix (49 mins), Barnes for Halpin (63 mins), Davison for Morgan (75 mins).

London Irish: O'Shea (capt); Bishop, Burrows, Venter, Woods; Bachop, Richards; Hatley, Kirke, Fullman, Harvey, O'Kelly, Boer, Strudwick, Gallagher. Replacement: Hardwick for Fullman (73 mins).

Referee: B Campsall (Yorkshire).