London Irish profited from an amazing blunder to breathe more easily in their attempt to retain their First Division status. They will take a crucial three-point lead into the second leg of their Allied Dunbar Premiership play-off at Sunbury on Sunday and that should be enough to guarantee survival for the second successive year.

It could have been different, however, had Rotherham right winger Dean Lax not committed a schoolboy error that denied him and the Yorkshiremen a second try in a thrilling second half.

Lax, brought into the side to cover for the departure of former British Lions hero John Bentley, had given the Second Division side a deserved lead with a 30thminute try and should have had another 13 minutes into the second half.

Neat inter-passing by former rugby league pair Greg Austin and Mike Umaga got Lax over at the corner.

But as he ran towards the posts in an effort to make the conversion easier he took his eyes off defender Justin Bishop and in the resulting collision he watched agonisingly as the ball squirmed from his grasp.

It was an extraordinary let-off for the Exiles, who took advantage to stretch their lead without ever looking convincing.

Rotherham now face a daunting task at Sunbury but a repeat of tonight's battling performance could yet make the First Division side sweat.

A crowd of 3,000, squeezed into the tiny Clifton Lane ground, sensed an upset when stand-off Simon Binns kicked a second goal four minutes before half-time to put the underdogs in the driving seat at 10-3.

But Niall Woods landed a second penalty in first-half injury-time and was on target twice more after the break as Irish rallied to the promptings of Samoan number eight Isaac Feaunati.

Rotherham almost drew level in a frantic finale in which Lax went within inches of making amends for his error and they were forced to settle for a second penalty from Binns in the seventh minute of injury time.

The visitors could boast no fewer than 10 full internationals in their line-up - but no-one caught the eye more than Rotherham's Canadian skipper Mike Schmid, who put club before country by pulling out of this weekend's match against the United States in Vancouver.

Schmid will once more lead from the front when Rotherham, aiming to become the first Yorkshire club to compete in the top flight of English rugby, seek to finish off the job.