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London Irish got off to a sound start in this season's Challenge Cup as they ran in nine tries at the Madejski Stadium to comfortably dispose of Italian minnows Cavalieri Prato.

Jimmy Stevens, Myles Dorrian, Andrew Fenby and Sailosi Tagicakibau all crossed for a 27-3 half-time lead.

Fergus Mulchrone (2), Alex Lewington, Darren Allinson and Leo Halavatau then claimed the five second-half tries.

Dorrian added 13 points with the boot, Allinson kicking the final conversion.

Stand-off Dorrian's total haul came from an early penalty, followed by his try, following a delightful pass from lock Bryn Evans, and a conversion rate of five out of eight.

Irish director of rugby Brian Smith opted to rotate his squad, with only three men, centre Mulchrone, prop John Yapp and flanker Blair Cowan, having also started last weekend's Premiership win over Harlequins.

But, despite having their bonus-point win wrapped up by half-time, it was not completely plain sailing for the Exiles who had prop Halavatau sin-binned before conceding a late try to the part-timers.

The Italians' points looked likely to be limited to a penalty in each half for full-back Toby Browne until replacement Nicolas De Gregori took advantage of their extra man to crash over in the 79th minute.

FRIDAY'S LINE-UPS

London Irish: Lewington; Fowlie, Mulchrone, Tagicakibau, Fenby; Dorrian, Allinson; Yapp, Stevens, Hagan; Rouse, Evans; Danaher (capt), Sinclair, Cowan.

Replacements: Palframan for Stevens (58), Ojo for Fowlie (66), Geraghty for Dorrian (75).

Not Used: Harris, Halavatau, Skivington, Treviranus, O'Leary.

Cavalieri: Browne; Falsaperla, Majstorovic, Manganiello, Lunardi; Zucconi, Patelli; Tenga, Lupetti, Biancotti, Boscolo, Gerosa, Damiani, Del Nevo, Cicchinelli.

Replacements: Giovachelli for Lupetti (47), Marchetti for Biancotti (53), De Gregori for Tenga (53), Saccardo for Damiani (57), Crestini for Boscolo (59), Della Ratta for Patelli (69).

Not Used: N Tempestini, Devodier.

Attendance: 6,000.

Referee: Vlad Lordescu (Romania).