London Irish pulled off their first ever victory at Leicester Tigers with a thrilling 20-19 win to set themselves up with a do-or-die relegation battle royal with Bristol next weekend.
Bristol play Bath on Sunday with both of them trailing London Irish and Newcastle by three points and with talks of a merger between the two south west neighbours it could in fact end up with no-one being relegated.
However, London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea dispelled talk of such a possibility and said it was up to his players to show the same spirit as they had shown against the two-time European Cup winners when they host Bristol in the final match of the season.
"It's now in our hands," O'Shea said. "If we win next week we are safe. That's all we care about."
Leicester have no chance of reaching the play-offs.
Despite taking an early lead through Tim Stimpson's try, Leicester had no answer to the determination of London Irish, for whom Mark Mapletoft kicked 15 points to seal only Leicester's second home defeat in five seasons.
Leicester's only remaining target is to qualify for the European Cup and they have a tough trip to leaders Gloucester next weekend.
Meanwhile Wasps gained a 16-9 away win at Sale and move four points clear of them in second place in the table.
London Irish pulled off their first ever victory at Leicester Tigers with a thrilling 20-19 win to set themselves up with a do-or-die relegation battle royal with Bristol next weekend. London Irish pulled off their first ever victory at Leicester Tigers with a thrilling 20-19 win to set themselves up with a do-or-die relegation battle royal with Bristol next weekend.
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