Two quickfire second-half tries from Mel Deane and Chris Jones helped the Sharks to their fourth consecutive home victory at Heywood Road.

The Manchester club looked to be heading for defeat at the interval after an inspired first-half performance from London Irish.

The Exiles only led 11-6 but a try from winger Paul Sackey and the boot of Barry Everitt, combined with their overall superiority, had given them a great platform to build on after the break.

But the Sharks, who had shown only glimpses of their free-flowing style of rugby, exploded out of the blocks in the second half, touching down through Deane just three minutes after the break.

Lanky second-rower Jones added another try three minutes later, repeating his lung-busting run against Leicester three weeks ago when he ran more than half the pitch to cross under the posts.

The Exiles, whose miserable afternoon was compounded by substitute James Cockle's 74th-minute dismissal, were clearly broken by the Sharks' points spree and they allowed Steve Hanley and Mark Cueto in for two further tries.

The lopsided scoreline was tough on London Irish who for large parts of the game did not look like a side with only one victory to their name so far this season.

But it was a satisfying afternoon's work for the Sharks who will now be looking forward to their Heineken Cup debut against Bourgoin next Friday with some confidence.

The Sharks clearly fancied their chances and as early as the second minute they declined to kick at goal, with Charlie Hodgson opting to go for touch.

Hodgson's kick gave his side a great field position and after the ensuing line-out was won the Sharks piled forward, only to be penalised for going to ground inches short of the line.

The Exiles, stung into action, surged forward and spent the next 10 minutes camped on the home side's line and their reward eventually came when Sharks winger Hanley was sin-binned for killing the ball.

Everitt kicked the resulting penalty and Hanley's indiscipline cost his side again in the 19th minute when London Irish spun the ball to his wing where Paul Sackey was waiting to neatly sidestep his way through a stretched home defence.

Hodgson reduced the deficit shortly after with a penalty and the score inspired the Sharks who started playing their trademark free-flowing rugby.

Hanley enjoyed a lung-busting run down the wing while Jason Robinson went close only to be denied by a last-ditch dive from Darren Edwards.

But their good work was undone in the 26th minute when England A winger Cueto was shown a yellow card, also for killing the ball.

Everitt added a drop-goal but Hodgson then slotted three points on the stroke of half-time to keep his side within touching distance.

The Sharks started the second half as they had begun the first, neglecting to kick at goal and going for touch instead.

This time it paid off though as they won the line-out, drove forward and Hodgson released centre Deane who skipped around Exiles full-back Michael Horak for a try under the posts.

Hodgson converted and the Sharks went further ahead in the 46th minute through second row Jones, who intercepted an Everitt pass and sprinted home from 10 metres inside the Sharks' line.

Hodgson missed the conversion but added a 55th minute penalty to give his side a comfortable 21-11 lead which London Irish, obviously reeling at the Sharks' scoring spree, seemed unlikely to overcome.

The spark had had disappeared from their game and although Everitt slotted three more points, they were up against it.

Hanley made the most of the Exiles' ailing resistance to touch down in the left corner in the 69th minute, but the Sharks had a third player sin-binned - Alex Sanderson - for being on the wrong side of the ruck.

But the numbers were evened up almost immediately after when Cockle was shown a straight red card for stamping.

Hodgson booted a drop-goal before Cueto rounded off the afternoon by crossing in injury-time, securing a try-scoring bonus point.