Leeds Carnegie had just a losing bonus point to show for their efforts against London Irish, despite tries from Leigh Hinton and Tom Biggs at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.  The defeat means Leeds are now 5 points adrift from their nearest rivals Worcester who grabbed their first win of the season a day earlier against Bristol.
Having played their last match in torrential rain in France, Leeds Carnegie were once again left to battle the elements with high winds this time the obstacle for the home team.  Despite this Stuart Lancaster's men put in a brave performance and for the majority of the game were more than a match for their London visitors.
It was Irish who took the initial lead after 8 minutes through a Peter Hewat penalty, but just two minutes later Di Bernado was able to level the game with Leeds' first points after he successfully landed a penalty. 
Just two minutes later though centre Delon Armitage put Irish ahead with the first try of the game, after he was able to latch onto a Hewat kick to score in the left hand corner.  Hewat was unable to add the conversion from close to the touchline but he made up for this when he helped set up Irish's next try four minutes later after he combined with Nick Kennedy to send Tomas De Vedia over on 21 minutes.  Hewat was once again unable to add the conversion, but Irish now led 13-3.
Leeds were awarded a second penalty on 28 minutes, which Di Bernardo scored, but his effort was cancelled out on 36 minutes when Hewat added his second penalty for Irish, bringing the half time score to 16-6.
Within 6 minutes of the second Leeds gave themselves a lifeline when John Holtby made a blistering run down the wing before offloading to Hinton, who finished off the superb move by scoring in the corner.  Di Bernardo was unable to add the conversion but Leeds were now within a converted try of taking the lead. 
Instead of being able to capitalise on this score however Leeds soon found themselves under immense pressure, and for the next 10 minutes Irish were virtually camped in Leeds' half following Hinton's try.  The home side seemed to cope well and were able to hold off Irish, but on the 55th minute the visitors finally found their way through when Sailosi Tagicakibau burrowed his way over from close range to extend the Irish's lead. Hewat missed the conversion but Irish now led 21-11.
With 20 minutes of the second half gone, Vili Ma'asi had one of Leeds' best chances when he came close to going over for a try under the posts, but he was just stopped short of the line.  Following this however Leeds were awarded a penalty after Warren Fury was sin binned for Irish for repeated infringements.  Di Bernardo successfully slotted over the penalty on 62 minutes to give Leeds further hope.
Seven minutes later the Leeds Carnegie crowd were brought to their feet when Jonny Hepworth offloaded to Tom Biggs to score the 37th try of his career.  The try not only meant the winger had equalled the club record set by Dan Scarbrough as top try scorer but with Di Bernardo's conversion it brought Leeds level at 21-21.
This got the Headingley Carnegie crowd buzzing and moments later it looked like Biggs would be in again when a neat chip from Hinton nearly found the winger.  Irish were able to deal with the danger however and recovered the ball before Biggs could get hold of it.
Leeds were left to rue this missed opportunity just moments later when Irish grabbed their fourth try of the game through David Paice, giving Irish the try bonus point on 72 minutes to take the game further from Leeds' reach. 
Leeds Carnegie didn't put their heads down though and continued to search for the winning try in the dying moments of the game but their efforts only resulted in them cutting the losing deficit by two points when Di Bernardo kicked his fourth penalty of the afternoon to bring the final score to 26-24 to Irish.

Leeds: Hinton, Holtby, Hepworth, Blackett, Biggs, Di Bernardo, Bedford, MacDonald, Ma'asi, McGee, Boza, Lund, Dunbar, Clark, Oakley. Subs: Pala'amo, Parkes, Paul, Balding, Brooks, Tuilagi

Irish: Hewat, De Veida, Armitage, Geraghty, Tagicakibau, Hickey, Hodgson, Lea'aetoa, Coetzaa, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, Danhaer, Thorpe, Murphy, Armitage, Fury, Tiesi