LONDON IRISH coach Toby Booth refused to blame Peter Richards' last-minute blunder for his team's cliff-hanging defeat.

Irish were leading 25-24 when Richards infringed from an offside position in front of the posts and Stephen Jones kicked the winning goal.

Booth said: "The blame does not lie with Pete. We were all complicit.

"We threw the match away. We made more mistakes on the day than in the whole eight months of last season and we paid the price."

The result leaves the Scarlets at the top of Pool 6.

Booth added: "We were simply not smart enough and we used up a huge amount of energy by having to defend desperately in the opening minutes of each half.

"It makes you despair, but this game has a habit of teaching you a lesson."

First-half tries to home flanker Declan Danaher and centre Elvis Seveali'i were cancelled out by individual efforts from Ben Evans and Mark Jones, and the sides went into the break tied at 18-all.

A Jones penalty gave the Welsh region the lead, but it didn't last long as Sailosi Tagicakibau intercepted a Scarlets pass and ran 90m for the try.

It looked to be the winning effort before Richards' error.

VIADANA 11, LEICESTER 46

SCOTT HAMILTON ran in three of the seven Tigers' tries but insisted he had not had a good game.

Two-times Heineken Cup winners Leicester claimed a bonus point with Johne Murphy, Tom Croft and Lucas Amorosini also going over, with a penalty try completing the five-pointers.

Hamilton said: "It was not one of my better games but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"We have played better than we did here but we came for the five points, so we have to be pleased we achieved that.

"I was impressed with the Viadana forwards. They carried the ball well. Their backs put us under pressure but we held on to the ball long enough to score the tries we needed."

MADRID 5, WORCESTER 38

THE Warriors claimed a bonus-point win in Spain to get their Amlin Challenge Cup campaign back on track.

Miles Benjamin and Alex Grove both grabbed try doubles as Mike Ruddock's men coasted to victory in the Spanish capital.

Ruddock said: "We're pleased with the result and it was a job well done.

"We thought we were on for at least 50 points but the second half was disruptive."

ROMA 0, LONDON WASPS 57

PAUL SACKEY inspired Wasps to a thumping win over minnows Roma.

The England winger skippered Wasps for the first time on his 100th appearance.

And he grabbed one of his team's nine tries in this comfortable Challenge Cup rout. Coach Tony Hanks raved: "Paul did a great job. He scored one but he also made some big tackles."

Dan Ward-Smith and Dan Leo both bagged try doubles.

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