Playing in front of a sell-out 16,850 crowd, the Zurich Premiership’s bottom club thoroughly deserved their victory in a brave display capped by fly-half Mark Mapletoft’s 15-point haul.

For Leicester though, the defeat is the latest in what has been a dismal season for the four-time reigning champions.

This was their ninth loss of the season and completed a double for the Exiles following their 27-7 home win earlier in the campaign.

It also put the final nail in Leicester’s slim hopes of reaching the play-offs.

Leicester, facing their first season without silverware since 1998, began their penultimate game of the campaign in fifth spot needing to make up a seven-point deficit on the third-placed Sharks if they were to snatch a place in the play-offs.

It took Leicester just three minutes to open the scoring, Craig McMullen’s defence-splitting pass giving Tim Stimpson the chance to race 30 meters unchallenged before diving over.

But the England international missed his conversion and then saw a subsequent drop-goal attempt float limply wide.

Mapletoft was not so profligate. He reduced the deficit with a penalty from the halfway line before putting the visitors ahead 6-5 with a much simpler effort from in front of the posts.

The former Gloucester man added two further penalties before the end of the half to give Irish a healthy cushion heading into the break.

Leicester looked to have clawed their way back into the match on the stroke of half-time when John Holtby raced over in the left corner for his first-ever Leicester try.

But Stimpson was again unable to add the conversion from out on the touchline and Irish took advantaged to fashion a superb try.

Winger Paul Sackey made good ground down the right before being denied by some stout Leicester defence. However the home side had over-committed and when the ball found its way back out, the visitors had an overlap on the other side of the pitch which prop Mike Worsley took advantage of to dive over.

Mapletoft was narrowly wide with his kick before, three minutes into injury-time, Geordan Murphy fired home a brilliant long-distance drop goal to pull Leicester back to within four points with the final kick of the half.

Stimpson found his range at the start of the second half to put Leicester back in the lead with two penalties.

The Exiles were not about to roll over though and yet another penalty by the impressive Mapletoft put them ahead 20-19 heading into the final minutes.

With the rain starting to pour down, Leicester began to look weary and the more likely scorers looked to be the visiting side.

The final 10 minutes were almost exclusively spent in the Leicester half and, despite the best efforts of the vocal home crowd, the Tigers were unable to grab the all-important score.