LIGHTNING struck twice for London Irish who crashed to a second successive defeat to Jersey Reds – this time costing them a place in the British & Irish Cup final.

Eight days after Jersey ended Exiles' perfect record in the Greene King IPA Championship, they did it again with an impressive 25-17 victory in Sunday's semi final at Madejski Stadium.

If Irish were looking for a response to that earlier 15-11 defeat in Jersey – their first loss in 18 league matches this season – it never materialised.

Leading for large portions of the match, it was the Reds' forwards who propelled them boldly into the final and a showdown with Munster A in Ireland.

Led by the direct running of Nick Haining, Jersey's pack had the edge up front and were on top in the set piece for most of the afternoon.

So when Nick Selway went over for the winning try in the 77th minute, few could have begrudged the visitors their victory.

The Irish team was almost unrecognisable from the previous weekend with only two survivors from the side beaten at St Peter.

The early signs were there for Irish as handling errors meant they failed to score a point from a number of opportunities in the first quarter.

Fly-half Theo Brophy Clews also missed a penalty, as did his Jersey counterpart, Callum Sheedy.

Sheedy, though, made amends with a successful kick soon after to open the scoring.

However, the Exiles quickly responded when England U20 Grand Slam winner, Tom Parton, sped down the wing for the game's first try, with Brophy Clews adding the extras.

The visitors also looked dangerous and although Greig Tonks pulled off two try-saving tackles, there was nothing Irish could do to stop Jordan Davies from powering over, with Sheedy notching the conversion for a 10-7 lead at the break.

With momentum behind them, Jersey pulled further clear soon after the restart when pressure from their giant pack saw number eight Haining grab their second try which Sheedy failed to embellish.

The hosts quickly closed the gap to 15-14 when a fine pass from Brendan McKibbin, who had replaced Darren Allinson, set up a try for Ciaran Hearn, which Brophy Clews converted.

Exiles' spirits were further raised when Sheedy knocked a penalty wide, an error that was punished when Brophy Clews landed one at the other end to nudge the hosts 17-15 in front heading into the closing stages.

But there was no keeping Jersey down and Irish lost Gerard Ellis to the sinbin with nine minutes to go for collapsing a maul close to the line.

With the pressure beginning to tell on the hosts, a Sheedy penalty regained the lead as Irish creaked in the scrum.

The visitors cashed-in on their one-man advantage when Selway thundered over for the winning score which Sheedy converted with three minutes to go.

Irish, who are already assured of top spot in the Championship, return to league action this Saturday when they host Rotherham Titans (3pm).

London Irish: Tonks, Cokanasiga, Hearn, Neal (Ransom, 62 (Atkins, 78)), Parton (Gleave, 71), Brophy Clews, Allinson (McKibbin, 47), Elrington (Hobbs-Awoyemi, 56), Gleave (Ellis, 53), Hoskins, Lloyd, Sinclair (McNally, 56), Sexton (Narraway, 47), Gilsenan, Nayalo.