LONDON Irish skills coach Paul Hodgson says they will use their British & Irish Cup semi-final defeat to Jersey Reds as motivation for the league play-offs.

Exiles were beaten 25-17 by the Channel Islanders at Madejski Stadium on Sunday – eight days after the same opposition ended their 100% record in the Greene King IPA Championship.

But Hodgson insists that back-to-back defeats to the Reds will not dent their confidence for the upcoming Championship play-offs, with Irish already assured of top spot and crucial home advantage in the semi-final second leg.

He said: “Sunday was always about improving our intensity and physicality from last week, to a man I think we did that.

"There were clearly a few technical issues and we will look at that to get better as a collective come the play-offs.

"We've got two regular league games left now and there are no more distractions in terms of the cup.

"We will be applying ourselves 100% in every area in preparation for this next block of games."

While successive defeats to Jersey – who now go to Munster A in the cup final – will have done little for Irish's confidence, Hodgson believes valuable lessons have been learnt especially by the club's younger players.

"My personal highlight was our game at Cornish Pirates,” he explained. “We had 14 current and former Academy players in our squad that day and this competition has shown the fantastic talent coming through the club."

Irish will now play their final home game of the regular season this Saturday when they host Rotherham Titans at Madejski Stadium (3pm ko) before ending their league campaign at Doncaster a week later.

Exiles then face an away game in the first leg of their play-off semi final on Sunday, April 30 before the return leg in Reading on Saturday, May 6.

And Hodgson knows the backing of the Irish fans will be vital from here on.

“Our supporters will be crucial in the coming games," he declared. "Home and away this year, the supporters have been fantastic and it is greatly appreciated by everyone."