There were contrasting fortunes yesterday for London Irish's two England hopefuls. Shane Geraghty may be ruled out of contention for the RBS Six Nations Championship match against France with a bruised knee while Paul Hodgson must have played himself into Brian Ashton's reckoning at scrum half after a dynamic performance that was at the heart of their victory.

The players had been drafted in to the provisional training squad by the England head coach last Friday for the trip to Paris and contributed significantly to their side's win over Leicester, a defeat that prevented the visiting side from going to the top of the Guinness Premiership for the first time this season.

Geraghty left the field just before half-time after colliding with Faan Rautenbach, his own prop forward. He joined up with England last night but the omens do not look great, which is a shame for a player who is in a rich vein of form. Until that moment, Geraghty had been instrumental in taking the game to Leicester in tandem with Eoghan Hickey, the fly half. The pair were always looking to try things on the gain line, and continually probing and asking questions that Leicester, in their more prosaic manner, struggled to answer.

The duo benefited from Hodgson's ability to whip the ball away from the breakdown and vary the position of attack. However, with Mike Catt coming on as his replacement after seven weeks out with a calf strain, London Irish lost little with Geraghty's absence. It was typical of Catt that he announced his return with a long dropped goal that helped to put his side out of sight in the second half.

As for Hodgson, Brian Smith, his director of rugby, thinks he is ready for England and that his performance should have played him into the 22 at the Stade de France this Saturday. “You need people who can front up in Paris and Paul would do that,” Smith said. “Today was a great milestone for him. There are three blokes in the running [for England] and for me he has jumped ahead of at least one of them. He is mature and well rounded and has more experience than one scrum half [Richard Wigglesworth] and more legs than the other [Andy Gomarsall].”

Hodgson is confident he would not let England down. “I am ready,” he said last night.

Apart from a 15-minute period in the first half, Leicester were invariably second best yesterday, their performance all the more disappointing after the heady win at Gloucester last weekend. They were under pressure from the kick-off in a game that started half an hour late because of lingering frost at one end of the pitch. For the first ten minutes Leicester were barely out of their own 22 and quickly found themselves 10-0 down.

Hickey kicked an opening penalty before Richard Thorpe powered over from close range. Topsy Ojo was also over the line but according to the television match official, Geordan Murphy's knee prevented the wing from grounding the ball. In contrast to Irish's fluidity of movement, Leicester were more straightforward, keen to slow down the pace of the game and with a solid set-piece that caused the home side problems at the lineout.

They worked their way back when Andy Goode burst from a lineout before finding Ayoola Erinle, whose run-in from halfway was a formality.

In the second half, London Irish showed that they have substance to match the style, holding Leicester's early onslaught before reasserting themselves. As Smith said afterwards, it is a measure of his side's growing maturity that they can now do that against a side of Leicester's power. Hickey's flawless goalkicking kept his side in the box seat with the fly half adding four beautifully struck penalties. Leicester's only riposte was a goal from Goode.

Scorers: London Irish: Try: Thorpe (9min). Conversion: Hickey. Penalty goals: Hickey 4 (6, 60, 65, 69). Dropped goal: Catt (71).

Leicester: Try: Erinle (11). Conversion: Goode. Penalty goals: Goode 2 (47, 70).

Scoring sequence: (London Irish first): 3-0, 10-0, 10-7 (half-time), 10-10, 13-10, 16-10, 19-10, 19-13, 22-13.

London Irish: P Hewat; T Ojo, D Armitage, S Geraghty (rep: M Catt, 37), S Tagicakibau; E Hickey, P Hodgson; T Lea’aetoa (rep: R Skuse, 56), D Paice (rep: D Coetzee, 56), F Rautenbach (rep: D Murphy, 44), N Kennedy (rep: J Hudson 69), B Casey, K Roche (rep: P Murphy, 69), S Armitage, R Thorpe.

Leicester: G Murphy; T Varndell, A Erinle, O Smith, J Murphy; A Goode, C Laussucq; B Stankovich, B Kayser (rep: G Chuter, 64), M Castrogiovanni. J Hamilton, B Kay, T Croft, B Herring (rep: J Crane, 66), M Corry.

Referee: A Small.

Attendance: 10,559.