David Paice: London Irish hooker confident ahead of Newcastle survival test

London Irish hooker David Paice believes positives can be harnessed ahead of a potential Premiership relegation decider against Newcastle.

Irish were knocked out of the European Challenge Cup after a quarter-final defeat by Harlequins on Saturday.

But the Exiles impressed with their performance at The Stoop ahead of Sunday's crunch league fixture.

"We had one eye on the Newcastle game," Paice told BBC Sport. "The players really stepped up and performed."

Bottom-of-the-table Irish can climb above 11th-placed Newcastle with a win at Kingston Park, but are without a Premiership away win for nearly 14 months.

"It's the biggest game of our season and probably in the club's history," Paice added.

"What we did at Quins was not show too much. We just had a simple game-plan, so we're going to expand on that.

"We showed a lot of heart and a lot of good things. Hopefully, we can take those into this week and build on them."