LONDON IRISH will travel to Harlequins in the Guinness Premiership playoffs after a strong second-half performance ended Worcester’s resistance at Sixways.

Irish ran in five tries, four after the interval, to triumph 32-15 and finish third in the table. The visitors had needed two points to secure their first playoff appearance in three years.

Delon Armitage missed two early penalties for Irish before his brother Steffon made a break that led to Sailosi Tagicakibau’s opening try after 17 minutes.

Worcester responded when hooker Chris Fortey crashed over from short range. Joe Carlisle converted and added a penalty to put the home side ahead but the lead was short-lived as Delon Armitage finally found his range with a penalty to ensure the sides were level 10-10 at half-time.

Irish took control after the break with No 8 Chris Hala’ufia picking up and driving over after a scrum. Carlisle missed two penalties and Worcester were punished when scrum-half Paul Hodgson went over. Seilala Mapusua and Tagicakibau drove Irish forward and Hodgson peeled off from a ruck to score on the blindside.

A neat passing move culminated in Declan Danaher going over for Irish’s fourth try. Adam Thompstone intercepted Michael Penn’s pass to run in the fifth. The replacement George Crook scored a late try for Worcester.

With Worcester playing Bourgoin in the European Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday, their director of rugby Mike Ruddock had made several changes to the side that beat Gloucester on Tuesday.

Sale Sharks missed out on the playoffs but ended the season with a flourish by beating Northampton 24-18 to secure fifth place. Victories for Irish, Bath and Harlequins meant Sale’s success did not alter the top four.

Departing captain Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe scored a try in the first half and the home side claimed three second-half scores through Eifion Roberts, Dean Schofield and a superb effort from Mathew Tait to clinch the bonus point.

Neil Best had capitalised on Charlie Hodgson’s knock-on to score a try and give Northampton, who had full-back Chris Ashton sin-binned after 36 minutes, a 10-5 half-time lead.

However, the visitors were overpowered after the break and Sean Lamont’s solo try six minutes before the end was no more than a consolation.

Lobbe, Lionel Faure, Sébastien Bruno, Sébastien Chabal and Jason White were all making their final appearances for Sale, who are appealing a one-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player against Harlequins last month.