Assistant coach Ollie Smith said London Welsh were simply not good enough after his side were convincingly beaten by London Irish in the Aviva Premiership at Oxford's Kassam Stadium.

The Exiles conceded eight tries, six in the first half, to go down 50-12 to Irish.

Smith accepted the visitors were the better side in the first half.

He said: “You can’t go in at half-time 38-7 down and expect to salvage anything from the game.

“In the first half they blew us away.

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“There was an opportunity for us to really put in a performance that would have challenged Irish for the victory and we let ourselves down.

“I don’t think we managed the game well or looked after the ball.”

Smith continued: “We are not a team that can cough the ball up easily and just defend and retrieve.

“It seems to be when we give the ball away it can be quite catastrophic.”

Welsh flanker Richard Thorpe, a former Irish player, added: “They were probably the number one team we were going after for a win, so we’re very frustrated.

“Unfortunately, it’s a familiar story.

“Within our squad we still have a very good environment, we’re trying to stay positive and we’ve got to keep doing that until the end of the season.

“We just need to keep building week on week and who knows what can happen in terms of results.”