Captain Cooke hails professional performance

Jack Cooke was full of praise for his London Irish team-mates, as the Exiles got their European Challenge Cup journey off to a dream start in France on Saturday.

Cooke captained Irish to a 34-8 bonus-point victory against SU Agen, with Irish crashing over five times.

"It was a good win for us," admitted Cooke.

"It's a proud moment for me to lead the team to a bonus point victory in France."

A brace of tries from Albert Tuisue, plus scores from Steve Mafi, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Phil Cokanasiga eased Irish to victory, to the delight of captain Cooke.

"You know you can never expect an easy game in France but I thought the boys rose to the challenge well,” he said.

"The boys put in a great amount of effort.

"The elements were tough - the weather and the pitch - but the boys stuck to the plan and executed a good performance."

Next up for Irish is the visit of Pau to the Brentford Community Stadium on Sunday, for the start of a run of three fixtures across the festive period.

"Pau will provide a similarly physical test," said Cooke.

"They'll look to throw the ball about a bit I'm sure.

"We're looking forward to getting back to our new home."